Leash Laws
by aflightoffancy
Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC.  To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.
1. Chapter 1

**Leash Laws**

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing.

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_So… Fanfic retirement isn't working. A thought occurred to me and I decided I was an idiot for not thinking of it before. _

_For those of you who've stuck with this series all the way here (_Loose the Hounds, Dogs of War, Dog Will Have His Day_), thank you very, very much. For those new to this, a quick recap, so you don't have to wade through the others if you don't want to. Max and Alec are together, married. After a disastrous riot killing several of Max's team, the Transgenics have legally taken over TC and have formed a company that takes jobs from the government as well as companies and private citizens. At some point while still at Manticore, Alec was programmed that when given a set trigger, he would execute whatever command he was given. A Familiar learned of this and Alec shot Max. A crew of former Psy-Ops members deprogrammed Alec, but it was very hard on the poor guy. Max was then poisoned by the Familiars. To get the antidote, Alec was forced to retrieve a file kept in a government building. Alec found the file and saved Max, but they still don't know why the file's important…_

_Now… on with the story._

Chapter One

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><p>"I am never, ever doing that again," Alec growled as he strode through the doors to Command.<p>

Max turned at his entrance and rolled her eyes. "You act like it was torture."

"It was," Alec snapped.

"It was a walk in the park and you know it," she replied evenly.

"Oh yeah?" He cast his eyes around the room to all of the others who were trying not to smile. "I didn't see any of you volunteering for the job, did I? No! When this job came up, everyone else was suddenly very, very busy and who's left?" He jerked his thumb at his chest. "Me."

Max walked up to him and patted his cheek, the action so condescending he wanted to start yelling. Instead, he gritted his teeth, and kept quiet, realizing he was just giving them more reason to laugh.

Alec couldn't blame them really. He knew they could all smell him and right now he smelled like baby formula and day old diapers. Freak, Inc. had taken a security contract to transport a big-time CEO's wife and her two small children. When it came time to actually do the job, however, the teams had all been suspiciously busy, leaving only Alec's team which was normally used for more dangerous or more involved missions.

Alec had no doubt Max was more than merely amused. She was most likely pleased and relieved to have him working a routine and relatively safe job. After the last few weeks of mayhem, an easy job was ok in her books, even if, for him, handling the kiddie jobs rankled.

Alec supposed he couldn't complain too much. Just the thought of Max stepping outside TC's walls was enough to have him nervously pacing and snarling at anyone who came near him. The last few weeks had been stressful, painful, and generally awful. Their physical wounds were healed now, however, and he and Max were working their way through the lingering worry and anxiety, sometimes with more success than others. He knew that he in particular had been moody and hard to deal with.

"Poor baby," Max cooed, further annoying him, although he couldn't help being slightly amused, too.

"Somebody better feel sorry for me," Alec grumbled, rubbing at his throbbing temple. It felt like he'd had a headache for days thanks to screaming babies and diaper changes, mixed in with bodyguard duty.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about you," she replied smoothly. "I was talking about the baby. Poor thing had to put up with you the whole way."

Alec shook his head. He'd walked right into that one. "Yeah, well, I didn't throw up on the kid, which is more than I can say for him."

Max wrinkled her nose and finally kissed him on the cheek, real sympathy in her eyes. "You did a good job," she whispered, so low only he could hear. "You know I needed someone I could trust with the babies."

"Yeah, yeah." He huffed, then said more loudly, "You find anything else on the Stephens file while I was gone?"

It was Max's turn to look annoyed. "We're still working on it. We just don't know why the Familiars were so hot to get it. Stephens is definitely dirty and he's tied to more dirty politicians and mobsters and every other criminal or amoral type you can think of, but we just can't figure out why that would mean anything to Kincaid or White and his buddies."

"Kincaid." Alec sighed. "The jerk's dead and he's still making our lives difficult."

"Pretty much." Max shrugged. "We'll keep working on it. At least Secretary Gordon's people are happy."

"Of course they are," Alec said cynically. "They've just been handed inside information on every underhanded mover and shaker in the country." The Homeland Security people were probably dancing around like it was Christmas.

"And then some. Stephens has contacts all over the world." Max's eyes narrowed. "Come to think of it, he's a bit like you."

"Hey!" Alec said in mock outrage. "What is this? Pick-on-Alec day?"

Max grinned mischievously. "I'm just saying that he seems to know everybody and his moral compass is a little… skewed."

Alec sniffed in annoyance. "See if I get you anymore chocolate this month." He stomped off toward his office, muttering the whole way. "Skewed, she says. I'll show her skewed." In truth, he really just wanted to change clothes. He still smelled like diapers and baby vomit. It wasn't doing his transgenic sense of smell any favors. Sewage had been easier to put up with and it had been a lot easier to wash off, too. For some reason baby vomit was worse than skunk. Once you got hit, it was nearly impossible to get rid of the stench. If he'd still been at Manticore, he was pretty sure the bio-warfare division would already have him isolated for study.

Alec's headache suddenly spiked and he wished like anything for a painkiller a Transgenic could use. He threw open the door to his office and headed straight for the cabinet where he kept an extra pair of clothes for occasions like this. Just as he was pulling a fresh black t-shirt down over his chest, the door opened and Max walked in, a faint quirk of amusement still playing on her lips.

She sat down on the sofa and without waiting to be invited, Alec sank down beside her wrapping one arm around her and pulling her close. Max immediately snuggled closer, resting her head on his chest.

Max let out a contented sigh that matched Alec's own. "Welcome home."

Alec kissed the top of her head. "Glad to be home. Even if you're mean to me."

"I'm not mean to you," Max replied, and Alec could hear the smile in her voice, even though he couldn't see it.

"Then what would you call it?" he asked wryly.

"Forcing you to live up to your full potential."

Alec snorted. "Exactly. You're mean. Not to mention bossy. Or maybe pushy is the word I'm looking for…"

There was a knock on the door, but neither of them moved. The people in Command were more than used to Max and Alec's tendency to be practically glued at the hip when opportunity allowed it. "Come," Alec called.

The door opened and a young woman walked in. She was visibly pregnant, although if Alec had to guess she still had a couple of months before she was due. Since things had stabilized, Terminal City had turned into a hotbed of people pairing off. After so many years of uncertainty, and temporary and usually forced partnerships followed up by forced isolation, the joy of a steady relationship was too tempting for many of the inhabitants of TC to deny.

"Hey, Stat. What's up?" Max asked.

Stat was their resident accountant. She hardly needed ledgers or a computer to keep their books up to date. She could simply do it all in her head. She was a walking calculator and absolutely vital to Freak, Inc.'s day to day operations. She was the one who made sure they got paid for the security jobs they took on and that their bills were paid now that TC was bringing in enough money that they could actually pay for the things they needed instead of stealing it all.

"Hi, guys. I need your okay on a couple of things. Dr. Peterson has asked us to buy him a few more pieces of equipment. I've checked around to see what I could find and have some options for you."

Max nodded and pulled away from Alec so she could sit forward and accept the papers Stat was holding. Dr. Peterson was their in-house veterinarian, a fact which still made Alec shake his head. The guy was decent enough, but it was just another bit of evidence that their lives were seriously messed up that instead of a doctor, they had invited a vet to make sure none of their weird bits of DNA caused them any difficulties. They'd been trying to buy things as needed for the guy so he'd have a proper "Doctor's office" for them to go to. Since they were constantly coming in from jobs with everything from broken bones to gunshot wounds, it was to their definite advantage to make sure the guy was well supplied.

"This looks good, Stat," Max said, still studying the papers. "Alec, you want to head up the negotiations? Equipment like this is going to cost a fortune."

Alec smirked. "Don't worry, Maxie. Before I'm finished with 'em, they'll be ready to donate the stuff."

"Thanks, guys." Stat rubbed a hand over her swollen belly. She looked down, smiling almost to herself. "Some of this is for pre-natal care and I'm hoping to get this deal going."

"When are you due?"

"Not for another twelve weeks as near as Dr. Peterson can guess." She shrugged. "It's all kind of a guessing game with our freaky DNA. That's why he's really hoping we can get him the equipment."

Max handed the papers back to her. "We'll make it happen," she assured her.

Alec gave Stat a confident smile. "I'll have the equipment before you know it."

"Thanks, guys. Really," she said. Tears had started to form in her eyes. She brushed them away in embarrassment and quickly excused herself from the office.

Alec shook his head. "Never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself."

"What?"

"Stat. You'd never know she could shoot the wings off a fly from 1500 yards in the middle of a gale force wind."

"She was a sniper?"

"The best. Cool as a cucumber. Nothing fazed her. No matter what was going on, she could make the shot."

Alec looked back at Max and realized she was wearing an expression he'd unfortunately come to recognize. He saw it whenever he inadvertently mentioned something about their later years at Manticore. He'd told her things had gotten worse, but he'd never really told her how.

The expression she wore was half-curiosity, half-fear. She knew that some of their people still blamed her for leaving them behind, while others blamed her for how much more harshly they were treated because of the escape. To Alec's way of thinking, it was all best left in the past, especially since his deprogramming sessions had forced him to relive every bit of his time at Manticore in crystal clear Technicolor, which wasn't doing his current state of mind any favors.

Even as he thought of it, images began to flash before his eyes, vivid, gut wrenching images that made him want to beg for mercy. Ever since the deprogramming sessions had dredged up the memories, it was almost impossible to banish them. Things he'd tried so hard to forget seemed to pop up again and again. Still, he told himself, given enough time he'd pack it all away again. As for Max, she could just stay curious.

"So," Alec said, clapping his hands together, "any big new contracts come in while I was gone that are going to make us all filthy stinking rich?"

"Maybe," Max hedged. "You up for a meeting with a bigwig CEO type?"

Alec laughed. "It'll make a nice change from dealing with screaming babies or evil government types."

"True." Max smiled and Alec couldn't resist. He leaned closer and kissed her smile, threading his fingers into her hair, pulling her closer. "Didn't get to give you a proper hello before."

"Falling down on the job," she replied, with a frown of mock severity.

"Work, employees hanging around. It cuts into a man's opportunities to make out with his wife."

Max rolled her eyes. "Your life is so difficult."

"You think I'm kidding? I'm seriously considering putting out a memo."

"And you know how much Mole cares about memos."

As if the others knew they were being talked about, there was a knock on the door. Whoever it was didn't wait for permission, just opened the door. Mole stepped in, chewing on his ever-present cigar. "Good. You've still got your clothes on."

"Which is the only reason you're still breathing," Max snapped.

"Relax, sister. Nothin' I ain't seen before."

Max blushed deeply, no doubt remembering that Mole had been the one to bring the cure to her room when she'd been so ill, not to mention naked. Alec didn't really appreciate the reminder any more than Max did.

"What do you want?" Alec growled.

"Thought you might wanna know we've got a guy at the gate asking for a meeting."

"So?"

Mole took his cigar out of his mouth. "So he's a Familiar. And he wants to talk."

* * *

><p><em>More soon…<em>


	2. Chapter 2

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_I completely forgot in all the recapping last chapter to say that if you're in the mood for an entirely original story, my new novel's up at Amazon, _Glass Promises_. You can follow the link on my homepage. It an adventure and a romance, dashing hero, brave heroine, the works._

_Now, when last we spoke, there was a Familiar at the gates…_

Chapter Two

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><p>"A Familiar?" Max asked, completely in shock. "Are you joking?"<p>

"Did I mention a priest and a rabbi?" Mole nearly snarled. Clearly the thought of a Familiar asking permission to enter their territory was not good for his mood.

"Have you let him in?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, I brought him to Command and let him start thumbing through the files. We're just waiting on you to give him the key to the city."

"I get that you're angry, Mole." Alec stood and faced the other man head on. "Now quit growling and start thinking. We need to know what they're up to."

Max waited for the explosion, but as so often happened, Mole listened to Alec where he wouldn't to anyone else. Max never did understand how the two had formed their own little mutual appreciation society, but they had. She suspected it had started when Alec got himself shot trying to save Mole and the others at Jam Pony.

Mole gnawed on his cigar, then let out an annoyed grunt. "What do we do with him?"

Alec's lips quirked up. "Take him to one of the conference rooms. See what he has to say. Then we decide whether or not to kill him."

Mole cocked his head to one side as if considering it. "That's workable."

The conference rooms were in the building just inside the gates. It ensured a certain amount of security while interviewing people, as well as ensuring the person barely saw anything more of TC than what could be seen from the gates themselves.

"I'll get a full security detail together."

"Sounds good," Max said, standing to join Alec. "We'll be there in a minute. The guy can sit and stew for a while."

Mole grunted again and left, closing the door behind him. Almost immediately Alec turned and held his arms out. Max moved into them easily and allowed him to pull her close and wrap her in his warm embrace.

"I just got back," he said grumpily.

"Can't even give us a minute before disaster strikes, can they?" she answered just as grumpily.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Well, they can just wait."

Max pushed back slightly and studied his features for a moment. He looked a little tired, but she knew that was from the constant vigilance required by the bodyguard job he'd just finished. Compared to before, though, he was finally looking like his old self. The stab wounds and the gunshot had healed. More importantly, however, he was working through the self-imposed distance he'd put between them. She doubted he would ever forgive himself for shooting her, but he was trying to move past it. The deprogramming sessions to ensure he wouldn't hurt her or anyone else again had scraped him raw, and she knew he was still struggling with the results, but a lot of rest and the time needed to physically heal had done them both good. The rest would come eventually.

Alec tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "What do you think?"

"What do I think?" she murmured. "I think the Familiars are probably setting us up for disaster. Again. And it pisses me off."

"We'll stay ahead of them this time, no matter what they're up to," Alec said, suddenly sounding exhausted, much like he had before their forced convalescence. "There's no other choice."

Max looked him straight in the eye. "And as long as you don't make any dumbass moves that get you killed."

Alec scoffed. "You act like I purposely try to die."

At that, Max frowned angrily. "I know what you're willing to do when I'm in danger. Or worse, I know what you do when you think it's a lost cause."

Alec paled at the reminder of the shooting, followed by Max's poisoning. He'd been worse than frantic, he'd been broken, making his last stand and fully expecting to die in the process. Time and again, he'd ignored his own safety if it meant she would be protected. When she was in dire straits, there was _nothing_ he wouldn't do.

Alec stood up straight and purposely put on an air of nonchalance. "Doesn't matter." He smirked. "Not gonna happen this time."

Max was about to give him a proper setdown when there was another knock on the door. "What?" Alec snapped, some of his agitation showing through.

The door opened a crack. "Can… can I come in?" Max realized it was Dr. Peterson and waved for him to enter. The twenty-something veterinarian looked even scruffier than he normally did as he nervously opened the door the rest of the way. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, it's fine," Alec said, carefully tamping down any negative emotions. Max had seen him do it often enough before, and it never failed to annoy her when he was hiding behind his Manticore mask.

"What can we do for you?" she asked. She rarely saw the veterinarian, especially since Alec had finally been given the all clear.

"Well…" The man wrung his hands nervously, which was very unlike him. He was normally very self-assured and didn't take crap from any of them. "This is… awkward."

Max pointed toward the chair sitting in front of the desk. She sat back down on the sofa and waited while Alec joined her and the vet turned the chair around so he could face them. Once Peterson was seated, he seemed to settle a bit, but he wasn't quite able to look at them.

"What is it?" Alec finally asked. "If you're worried about the equipment you asked for, we already gave Stat the okay for it."

"Yes and no." Peterson finally looked at them properly, and all Max could see was uncertainty and embarrassment.

"Look, whatever it is, just spit it out," Max said. "It won't be the first bad news we've had today." In truth, she was getting impatient. The Familiar was being escorted in and while she didn't mind making the guy wait a little, she wasn't comfortable with him on the grounds. They needed to talk to him and get rid of him. "Honest," she assured the vet, "whatever it is, you can tell us."

Dr. Peterson nodded. "It's just… I, uh… I'm really not sure how to tell you."

"Just tell us what's got you so upset," Alec said. "Plain and simple. If you're worried about saying medical stuff in front of us, we were all at Manticore. We're used to doctors talking about us like we're not standing right there while they discuss whatever weird thing our body is doing."

"Ok… good. I mean… not _good_. But… Ok…" The man cleared his throat, then took a deep breath to steady himself. "Most of you are probably sterile."

Max blinked, unsure she'd heard correctly. "I beg your pardon?" That certainly wasn't anything like what she'd been expecting.

"Sterile. You won't be able to have children."

"I know what the word means." Max tried to order her scattered thoughts and failed miserably. "I don't understand. Stat is pregnant. We have several pregnant females in the city." She glanced at Alec and saw that he seemed as confused as she was.

"Ok, let me take this from the beginning." The doctor stood up and began pacing back and forth. "I've been here for a while now, and I noticed, relative to the size of the population, an exceptionally high number of females coming to me with severe abdominal pain or cramps, sometimes with vaginal bleeding. It didn't take me long to figure out that the women were having miscarriages. At first I thought maybe it was because of the high toxin levels." He continued pacing furiously, and kept speaking, almost as if they weren't even in the room, and he was just thinking out loud to himself. Max was almost grateful. She was afraid to know what her expression looked like. She felt numb.

"If it was the toxins," Dr. Peterson continued, "I thought maybe the transgenic mother was immune, but maybe the fetus wasn't, or was too delicate to survive. A few tests, however, showed that wasn't the case. After that I started looking at other causes, physical characteristics of the mothers. I thought maybe there was some sort of abnormality, maybe a certain group of you had some physical issue that wouldn't allow a viable pregnancy. That wasn't the case either. There is such a variety in the population. Cats, dogs, amphibians, reptiles, bears, birds, insects… And these women were from all different groups."

"So what's causing it?" Alec asked, making the vet's head snap up in surprise when he remembered he had an audience.

He came back to his chair and sat down again. "It's your DNA."

"What about it?"

"Ok… It's like mules."

Max frowned, once again thrown by the odd direction the conversation had taken. "Mules?"

"A mule is the offspring of a horse and a donkey, which for all intents and purposes is always sterile."

"But… we're…" Max stammered, completely off kilter.

The veterinarian ran his hand through his already disheveled hair. "Normally, this isn't a problem. Humans having babies with humans, dogs with dogs, cats with cats, birds with birds… there are differences in varieties, a terrier and a poodle for instance, but it's all the same species, so when there are issues, it's something else causing the infertility, hormonal problems, physical defects, etc. But… maybe it's because I'm a vet that I realized it, but I think this is because you're all basically a hybrid of a human and another animal. Breeders do it to produce a stronger animal, or an animal for a particular purpose, but they'll only get one."

"But… the breeding program," Max blurted out, not daring to look at Alec. They had never talked about it and she certainly didn't want to start now, but it had just slipped out. "We were all supposed to…"

Dr. Peterson nodded. "Yes, one of the others told me about it, and explained a bit. From what I can tell, Manticore knew every single bit of your DNA, far better than I will ever possibly understand. They must have very carefully analyzed each one of you to ascertain who would be a viable breeding pair." He held up a hand. "And don't think just saying that doesn't give me the creeps." The man shook his head. "Anyway… I've talked to quite a few people, and from what I can gather, many of you were in the breeding program, but just looking around you should be able to see the lack of results."

Max nodded, mentally going through the population of TC. While she would like to think there were so few babies being born because their people had refused to obey orders, she knew that was doubtful. Manticore didn't allow disobedience. She and Alec… there had been more going on than just the breeding program when he was sent to her cell. The others, however, they would have had no such chance. They had sex with whoever they were paired with or they were punished. Yet, there were still few babies running around Terminal City.

"Originally, in order for Manticore to make you guys, the DNA was unnaturally forced, if you'll forgive the phrase. Manipulated is probably better. Once they had to use _natural_ means to produce another generation, however, my guess would be that even with all of their knowledge, it was unlikely that the match would produce a pregnancy, let alone a fetus that could be carried to term. The genetic differences were just too great. And now… that you're all choosing your own partners… the odds are so low…"

Max didn't look at Alec, but she felt him grasp her hand and squeeze it, although she wasn't sure whether he was offering reassurance, or asking for it. Either way she squeezed his hand tightly in return.

It made sense now that the vet spelled it out. They were all made in test tubes because humans and cats couldn't exactly have kids. Or cats and fish. Or bears and insects. Asking transgenics to have a child naturally was basically asking for just that. It was asking the impossible.

Dr. Peterson ran his hand over his face distractedly. He stood and began pacing again. "Be that as it may, that's why I asked for the equipment I did. We have a couple of pregnant females right now. Stat is the farthest along, and the baby is in distress."

"What?" Alec asked. His grip became so tight it would have crushed a normal woman's fingers.

"Stat is ok, but the baby… I _want_ this baby to make it. I'm tired of telling women they've lost their child, even if they didn't know they were going to have one. I need the equipment. If I had my way, I'd also want a human doctor, preferably an obstetrician in here ASAP as well as a geneticist, or a genetic counselor. I do the best I can, but…" His smile became abashed. "For this? Knowledge of animal husbandry will only get me so far. I'm already pushed beyond my limits trying to deal with humans anyway. Well… semi-humans."

"We'll get it," Max stated confidently, determination like she'd rarely felt washing over her. "Whatever and whoever you need, we'll get it." She honestly had no idea how, but if she could manage it, then she would. This… this tragedy that they called their lives… this was more than should be asked of anyone. Manticore had done enough to them. This was too much.

"Thank you. I… I've been trying to figure something out on my own, but I can't. There's just no way, and all of you needed to know. This is going to affect all of you, after all."

"Ok." Alec stood abruptly and gave the veterinarian a friendly slap on the shoulder as if to signal the end of the conversation. "Can we come talk to you again a little later? We have a meeting we have to get to."

"Sure." Dr. Peterson nodded, then let out a laugh, although it held no mirth. "My guess is you need a little time to digest this." He headed for the door, looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "Just come hunt me up when you want to talk."

They waited for the door to close behind him, then Max turned toward Alec. "I just have one question."

"What?" He turned toward her, his gaze wary.

"Were you really my breeding partner or were you just supposed to make sure I infected Logan?"

* * *

><p><em>More soon…<em>


	3. Chapter 3

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_So Max has never been afraid to ask the hard questions…_

Chapter Three

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><p>"You seriously want to talk about this now?" Alec asked grimly.<p>

"Yes," Max replied, her voice flat.

"Now. When we have a Familiar inside the gates, clearly up to something."

"I don't give a crap what the Familiar wants. I want an answer."

Alec shook his head, then sat down on the sofa. He dropped his head to his hands, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. Finally, he raised his head to look at her, looking as sad as she'd ever seen him. "What do you want me to say, Max?"

"How about the truth."

"Max, there's no good answer here. If I say I was sent to have sex with you, and would have followed orders, you'll be mad. And if I say I was ordered to let you kick me into the door so you'd trust me enough to help get you out of there and infect Logan, then you'll still be mad. Either way, I'm screwed."

Max's eyes narrowed. Her mind was going a mile a minute and she had no idea what she was doing or saying. She just knew their lives sucked and she was angry. Beyond angry. She was furious with the world and the life that had been forced on them.

"Just answer the question, Alec. Were you actually my breeding partner or were you sent just to _manage_ me so they could trap Eyes Only?"

Alec pinched the bridge of his nose as if his head hurt. "Max, _please_," he almost begged.

"Were you supposed to have sex with me or not?" she shouted.

Alec's hand dropped back to the sofa and for a moment he just stared at her, or rather _through_ her. It was unnerving, like he wasn't even seeing her, then finally, he sat back, and his entire demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. He purposely relaxed and wiped away all traces of the distress she knew he was still feeling. He smirked, the old smirk from the day he walked into her cell. It was the old mask, the one that said he found the whole world vaguely amusing and ridiculous at the same time, and that he couldn't be bothered to care one way or the other. "You know me, Maxie. I'll screw anything that moves."

"You think this is funny?" she snapped.

Alec's smirk didn't waver. "Funny? I think this a perfect example of how screwed up our lives are. There's no good, no bad, just screwed and we've got to roll with it." He pointed at her. "_You're_ the one making it worse by asking questions that won't help."

"_I'm_ making it worse?" She didn't think it was possible, but she was getting even angrier. "We just found out that this generation of transgenics is going to be the _only_ generation thanks to our freaky genetics and _I'm_ making it worse?"

Alec shrugged, that oh-so-carefully-constructed nonchalance still in place. "Last time I mentioned a baby, you almost ran out of the room. So now you know. Probably not gonna happen." He raised an eyebrow. "You should be happy."

Max could have hit him. "There's a difference between choosing not to have a kid and being told you _can't_. And you still haven't answered my question."

"Why are you pushing this?" Alec demanded. "So you'll know that you've got a better shot at being a mother if we were really breeding partners?"

"Yes," she said through clenched teeth.

Alec snorted. "You gonna ditch me if I say no? Go find some guy with the right genes to make it happen?"

That stopped her short. "No, I-"

"Then what difference does it make?" Alec stood, his mask beginning to slip. He pinched the bridge of his nose again, his brow furrowed. "Either we can or we can't. Ancient history doesn't matter."

"Why won't you tell me?" she asked suspiciously.

Alec's hands became fists and he actually backed away from her. "Because I don't want to."

"Why not? Just tell me!"

"Because you're asking me to _admit_ that I was willing to walk into that cell and have sex with a complete stranger, an _unwilling_ stranger," he answered, shaking he was so angry. "You want me to _admit_ that I was willing to make a child and then hand it over to Renfro without a second thought. You're asking me to admit that I was willing to do _anything_ those bastards ordered me to do, then go back to my cell and wait for the next set of orders to come down." He was breathing hard, visibly disturbed, furious, although she couldn't tell anymore if was at her or Manticore. "Because I would have, Max. I would have done anything to protect myself."

"Alec-"

"You think you know what we went through?" he demanded. "You think any of us like bringing up the things we did, or what we were willing to do to keep ourselves out of Psy-Ops?"

Max's mouth nearly dropped open as it dawned on her. He was _ashamed_. Alec, her Alec, was ashamed of what he'd done, what he'd been willing to do. She was so used to him just shrugging everything off that, even after all this time, she hadn't realized just how torn up he was inside.

He started circling around the desk, pacing frantically. "Months, Max. _Months_. That's how long I was in Psy-Ops after you escaped. I was practically a drooler when they let me out. After Ben started pulling out teeth, I was sent back in. For _months_. And all they told me was that 493 was off his rocker and they needed to make sure it wasn't genetic. By the end, I was pretty sure I _was_ nuts. I'd barely pulled myself back together when I messed up with Ra…" He drew in a struggling breath. "When I messed up with Berrisford. They ripped me into so many pieces after that…" Alec looked up, his haunted eyes finally meeting hers. "So yes, Max. They sent me in there to have sex with you and I would have. I _should_ have. Maybe they wanted a baby or maybe they were just using the sex as another way to break you, but they also told me I needed to do whatever I had to do so you'd let me stay close. Either way, they knew you were a risk and they needed an inside man. Whether that means the DNA match-up was good? Only Manticore knows. All I do know is that having a kid, _entrusting_ a kid, to a guy like me?" He huffed out a strained, miserable laugh. "Probably not the best idea you've ever had."

Max just stood rooted to the spot. She felt battered. She felt dirty, cruel. She and Alec never talked about Manticore if they could help it. She remembered Joshua talking about Alec. _Outside, lots of pretty colors. Inside, darkness, confusion._ Alec always seemed so sure of himself, confident to the point of arrogance. She'd really started to see the cracks after his programming was triggered and he shot her. When the ex-Psy-Ops crew deprogrammed him the cracks had become fissures, and now she could see she'd reopened those healing wounds.

"The deals you were making with the guards," Max tried. "I thought that meant you didn't mind breaking the rules… that you'd just do whatever was easiest. When I put up a fight, it was too much trouble."

Alec ran a hand over his face and turned away from her. "I was buying friends, Max. You get the guards what they want and they take it easier on you. Maybe they don't crack your head against the door post when they're dragging you out of the cell. Maybe you get a glass of water when they're done kicking your ribs in for insubordination. I was willing to take whatever small kindnesses my dealing could win me. If I couldn't deal my way into their favor, I figured maybe the money I'd stockpiled would bribe my way out of the worst of it."

Max suddenly wanted to wrap her arms around him. She wanted to comfort him for dredging up their history. And yet, for no other reason than the veterinarian telling her she probably couldn't have children, she suddenly felt a pang of longing. She'd never really thought about children. In the past couple of years, their lives had been disaster after disaster. They were living in a toxic craphole. Their lives were beyond dangerous. None of that made having a child a good idea. Yet, being told it could never happen… the sudden feeling of _loss_…

She'd never felt particularly good about her body. It had always done weird things. It never acted normally, and sometimes went totally haywire. But this… _sterile_… It felt as if her body had offered her yet one more betrayal.

Now that she thought of it, it probably shouldn't surprise her. How many times had she gone into heat? How many different men had she had sex with just because of her feline mating instincts? Thinking about the rest of the female population in TC, she realized there should have been a lot more pregnancies. If the breeding program had actually worked, most of the females should have come to TC in the same state as Gem, yet very, very few had, and despite all of the pairing up among them, still there was very little to show for it. She might as well hang a for sale sign on her womb, Max thought bitterly. She certainly wouldn't be using it, not that it would be any good to anyone else.

Or would it?

Max gasped at the thought, her eyes flying to Alec. What if her closest genetic match was some other transgenic? What if her only chance was to have some other man's child? What if she was _his_ only chance?

"Max?" Alec was watching her warily again, sadness clouding his expression.

"I…"

He held up a hand to stop her. "You know what? Now is not the time for this." Alec shook his head. "We've got a Familiar waiting for us."

"Yeah." Max shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, you're right." She looked up and their gazes met before skittering away again just as quickly. An awkward silence fell, unspoken words hanging in the air.

"Come on," he finally said with a sigh. "We've got to see what this guy wants. We can deal with this later."

Alec walked past her, not touching her as he usually would have. She felt the loss as keenly as she suddenly felt the loss of children she would never have.

Alec.

Alec was more than just a man, more than just another transgenic in the same boat she was. He was her husband, her _friend_. What would it mean if their genetics really weren't compatible? Just the feeling of awkwardness between them was hurting her. What if this news made it even worse? Could she bear any more distance between them? Even now she wanted to comfort him for the pain she'd caused, and she wanted him to comfort her. She was confused and thought that somehow if he would hold her, it would all start to settle in her mind.

"Come on," he said again, now holding the door open for her. She went through the door ahead of him, averting her eyes just as he was doing.

They walked side by side, although not touching. They got plenty of odd looks as they crossed the main floor of Command. Max wasn't sure if it was because news of the Familiar on the grounds had gone through the ranks, or whether it was that they could feel the tension between their leaders.

As they walked outside and headed for the building near the gate where the conference rooms were, Max noticed a small crowd was gathering. They were completely silent, milling around outside the building and Max could only assume they knew there was a Familiar inside.

As Max and Alec approached, Sig stepped out from the crowd. He was a butt ugly, bulldog of a transgenic and had a personality to match. After Max faced him down, followed by an actual knocking-down by Alec, he'd decided that he was willing to follow their lead. That didn't mean, however, that he still wasn't a thorn in their side. Even when the guy agreed with an order, he had to be a jerk about following it.

"You let this guy in?" Sig demanded.

"Yes," Max answered simply.

"There a reason he's still breathing?"

Alec snorted. "Because we won't learn anything from a dead Familiar."

"Who says we need to learn anything from him?" Sig growled.

"Better we know what they're up to than fumble around trying to figure it out later after they've already stuck it to us," Alec snapped.

Max could see that he was still agitated, although he was trying to hide it. Sig must have realized it too because he studied Alec closely for a second. It was rare for them to see Alec out of sorts, especially when Max was beside him. Normally, it was only the thought of her in trouble that set him off.

"Fine," Sig finally said. "But don't expect us to like it."

"Trust us," Max said grimly, "we don't like it either. And if we don't like what he has to say, you can help the security detail handle him, all right?"

Sig smiled at the thought of impending violence and stepped out of their way. "Deal."

The others let them pass without incident, but Max could tell that no one was happy. White's people had been trying to kill them for too long, and had been too good at their job.

Max and Alec walked into the building and down the corridor. There were more guards standing outside the conference room. Fred and Barney who made up Max and Alec's normal security detail were at their posts. There were two other guards, but they would stay outside. Fred and Barney would be going into the conference room with them.

"Guys," Max said by way of greeting. "Any problems?"

Fred shook his head. "Not so much as a peep out of him. We walked him in here and he's been sitting in there quietly ever since."

"You search him?" Alec asked.

Barney raised an eyebrow, but as usual it was Fred who answered. "You didn't hire us for our looks." He smiled and his wolfish teeth made their own statement of the owner's ferocity.

Max turned toward Alec. "You ready?"

"Yeah," he replied, although he didn't quite look at her when he answered and he was still standing a little too far away.

Fred seemed to notice the chill in the air and looked like he wanted to comment on it, but instead said, "Then let's get to it," and opened the conference room door.

Immediately, they were all on the alert. Barney and Fred entered the room first, followed by Max and Alec. The two guards stationed themselves on either side of the door, while Max and Alec walked to the conference table and stood facing the Familiar.

The man stood as they entered. He was above average height and had very dark, shoulder length hair. His nose was a little too big for his face and his mouth too small, but his dark eyes were full of intelligence, watching them closely. He was dressed in a gray suit, neatly pressed.

"Who are you?" Max asked without preamble. "And why are you here?"

"My name is Ingram." The man smiled, closer to a smirk. "And I'm here to hire you."

* * *

><p><em>Well, hopefully that much awkwardness will hold you until the next chapter. More soon…<em>


	4. Chapter 4

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_We have a Familiar in the house…_

Chapter Four

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><p>"You want to hire us?" Max's eyes were wide in disbelief.<p>

"This is a business, is it not?" The man raised an eyebrow. "People come to you. They pay you. You perform a service, etc."

"Normally, the people who come to us aren't our mortal enemies."

The man, Ingram, chuckled. "Mortal enemies. Do we really need to be so melodramatic?"

Alec cocked his head to one side. "You're talking to people who've been hated and hunted by you and your Familiars, followed up by the whole world. We're pretty good at melodrama."

Ingram pursed his lips. "You can't blame the world for good judgment."

"You come here to insult us?" Max snapped. "Because if that's why you came, you can just tell us where to mail your body and we'll get this show on the road." She heard a chuffing sound behind her, saw Ingram pale slightly, and guessed Fred was laughing, flashing his teeth.

"Try anything and my people will surround this city," Ingram snarled, all pretense of civility gone. "They will kill you all before you know what's happening."

"Ah," Alec said calmly, waving Fred and Barney back to their posts. "There's the psychotic killer we were expecting."

"What do you want?" Max said again, this time through clenched teeth. She had a million things going through her head, most of all their news from the vet, and the mess she'd made of trying to get Alec to reassure her, that maybe, _maybe_, they still had a chance of having a child one day. Instead, she'd completely unsettled his still delicate state of mind.

"As I said, we want to hire you." The man's eyes went back and forth between her and Alec.

"You've got your own little pack of trained killers," Alec said. Max saw him rubbing his shoulder where he was shot during the Jam Pony mess. "Why do you need us?"

"You have information we do not. It is necessary to handle this situation."

"Why would we work for you?" Max inquired. "You want us dead."

"Yes, we do," he stated baldly.

"Then why would we help you?"

He gritted his teeth, visibly unhappy, and Max wondered if he was as disgusted at having to be there as they were at talking to him. Finally, he said, "Solving this problem will be mutually beneficial."

"How?"

"Can we sit?" Ingram was already pulling out his chair and sitting down.

Annoyed, Max did the same, and Alec followed her lead. "How is helping you and your bunch of homicidal goons supposed to benefit us?" she demanded.

"We assume you have the Stephens file?"

Max refused to show any sort of reaction. She and Alec had nearly died because of that file. The Familiars had been frantic to get their hands on it. The most frustrating part was that they still had no clue why the file was so important. No matter how hard they'd looked at the Stephens guy, who was admittedly as dirty as it was possible to be, they had no clue why the Familiars needed him so badly.

"Yes, we have it," she admitted.

"And have you researched it?"

"What do you _want_?" Alec slammed his fist on the table, his patience apparently running thin. "Max is going to play this cool, but I'd just as soon rip your head off as look at you, so either start talking or this meeting is over. And you're not going to like the way it ends."

Ingram's eyes narrowed. "I was informed that you were the smart-mouthed, easygoing half of this pair. She was supposed to be the difficult, hot-headed partner. Apparently, we were misinformed."

"I'm tired of coming home with new holes every time I run into one of you," Alec ground out. "I'm tired of Max getting hurt. I'm tired of our people getting hurt. And I'm tired of you people showing up and talking to us like we're dirt and then ordering us to do things for you."

Max reached out and put a hand on Alec's arm, soothing him as best she could while they had an audience. She couldn't really blame him. She just didn't like seeing him so agitated and knew it was partly her fault he was so on edge.

Max cleared her throat to get the man's attention. "Spill it, Mr. Ingram. We've got places to be."

"Fine." Ingram straightened in his chair, and his tone became businesslike. "The Stephens file. Did you find anything in it that you decided needed further attention?"

"No," Max said flatly. "Stephens is a wheeler-dealer, but then so are a lot of people these days. It just so happens Stephens is a very high-powered one. He seems to know every big-time criminal in the country, and a whole lot of them overseas, not to mention he seems to know every mover, shaker and political bigwig. Honestly, that's not really our business. We gave the information to the Homeland Security people. What they do with it is up to them."

Ingram frowned. "Did you look into the people listed in the file? The people he's been dealing with?"

"There are hundreds of them. You wanna give us a hint?" Max said. "What are we looking for?"

"There should be a man. He works for a lab located somewhere in the Midwest. He's been using Stephens' people to acquire and transport controlled substances and supplies."

"I take it you don't like these lab people," Alec offered dryly.

Ingram turned to face Alec, giving him all of his attention for the first time. Max felt Fred and Barney tense up, and knew she'd done the same. The Familiar was clearly displeased, and they didn't like his focus trained on Alec.

"Perhaps you do not appreciate the real differences between us," Ingram said.

"You mean people who're just trying to make a life for themselves and a cult who has no problems with genocide?" Alec shot back. "Nah, I'm pretty sure I get it."

Ingram's eyes narrowed dangerously, and once again, Max saw the keen intelligence behind them. Whoever had chosen this man as the Familiar's emissary had chosen wisely. They certainly hadn't sent in a one-track moron like White.

"There are two philosophies of how to help advance the human race," Ingram said, almost professorially with an added hint of condescension. "One way is the natural way. We have chosen to safeguard the race through natural means. You see evolution within a species isn't as difficult as most people think. Take, for example, a slug."

"A slug?" Alec asked incredulously.

"A common, everyday slug. It eats a bit of algae it finds. It just so happens that this bit of algae is infested with a colony of bio-luminescent bacteria. The result is a slug that carries the bacteria and is now bio-luminescent. By taking in the algae, the slug now glows. More importantly, all of the slug's offspring will also glow because of the bacteria introduced into the parent. Those slugs will make more slugs and so on and so on, all of which now have this quality as part of their standard biology."

"So?"

"We have very, very carefully used natural selection and careful breeding to ensure that we are ready, that the human race survives."

"And?" Alec's tone was getting more and more clipped as his temper frayed further.

"And then there is the other way of doing things. The unnatural way. You are the result of one of our misguided brethren who believed that scientific tampering would be the way to save the race from annihilation. Rather than a natural solution that is merely a progression of the human race, he made _you_. You and your people, and I use the term loosely, are an unnatural hodgepodge, a mess, and an unsustainable one at that, a conglomeration of human and animal that has no place in this world."

"And yet here we are," Max bit out, "in the world."

"For a while." Ingram moved his glare to her. "You forget our specialty is natural breeding processes. You think we don't know that this… problem, you, will resolve itself? Naturally?"

Max's fists were balled at her sides, and she suddenly wanted to leap across the table and scratch the smug look off the man's face. Apparently, it had occurred to everyone but them that their genetics were going to be a dead end. Manticore had been whipping them up in test tubes, not just to make them better, but because that was the only way they could get it done. It just hadn't occurred to Max and the others because there had been a few births, Gem and a few others from the breeding program at the base. They just hadn't known about all of the problems that were showing up now that they were completely on their own.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Alec snapped. "So you like natural breeding and we're a mess. So what?"

"So another of my misguided brethren is about to cause another problem. This time, however, it is not only going to create a mess," he gestured vaguely in their direction, "that needs to be cleaned up. This person has created a situation that will directly harm both of our peoples."

"What's he done?"

"Our purpose is to ensure that a group of people is immune to the virus that is coming that will sweep across the world and kill virtually every living person."

"Yeah, yeah," Max rolled her eyes, "prophesies, comets, killer virus, and all that crap."

Ingram bristled at her interpretation of his life's work, but did not rise to the bait. "This man has decided that there is no such coming apocalypse, that we are the ones who will cause the disaster by eventually unleashing the virus, and that we must be stopped."

"Sounds like my kind of guy," Alec said. "So far you're not convincing us to help you."

"He has altered the original virus so that it will kill us. It will affect only the pertinent gene sequence that makes us immune."

"Keep trying," Alec said, rolling his hand in a get-on-with-it motion.

"Our brother who began the project that created you, he was also working to save humanity from this virus. Your people are the only others on the planet who have the gene sequence. You will all die if this virus is released."

* * *

><p><em>More soon…<em>


	5. Chapter 5

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_Got this done a little earlier than expected, so here ya go._

Chapter Five

* * *

><p>"Crap," Max said, and she could tell that everyone else in the room was thinking the same. So some new nutso was out there who wanted to kill them and had the smarts and the funding to manage it. That was just great, exactly what they needed. And yes, another virus to boot. Because they didn't have nearly enough gene-altering killer viruses in their lives.<p>

"If you know so much about this, why don't you just go get your guy and take care of this?" Alec asked suspiciously.

"We cannot find him," Ingram said, visibly frustrated. "We learned that he had been in contact with this Stephens person. Our only way to track him down will be through Stephens, and _you two_," he said it like a curse, "kept us from getting our hands on the file."

"So now you have no choice but to come to us." Max sighed and slumped back in her seat. "Just great."

"We want you to give us the file and we will handle this. We are willing to pay if necessary, although it is in your best interest that he is stopped."

"How stupid do you think we are?" Alec spat. "You really think we're going to hand over information that will give you a virus you can use to kill us?"

"You have the information to do exactly the same," Ingram pointed out in return.

"Yeah, but we don't spend our days hunting you down for _fun_," Alec said angrily. He looked down and Max watched as he pinched the bridge of his nose, his brow furrowed as if in pain, or perhaps it was just massive frustration. "There's no way we're giving you that file."

"We suspected as much." Ingram's mouth was drawn up in distaste. "Very well. See to the problem yourselves, but we will expect updates."

"You can't be serious." Max shook her head. This couldn't get more surreal.

"If you want us to stay out of your way," Ingram said flatly, "then we will need assurances that you have the situation under control. Otherwise we will step in. As you pointed out, we have our own teams capable of handling the problem."

"Fine," she replied through clenched teeth. "Just give us a name. Who are we supposed to be tracking down?"

"His name is Cabot, but he may be going by another name now. As I said, we believe the lab is somewhere in the Midwest, although that is not certain."

Silence fell over the room. Max glanced at Alec who had turned toward her slightly. He didn't meet her gaze, but he gave a bare nod. His discomfort was obvious, and she couldn't help feeling the same. Even if the Familiar was telling the truth, there had to be more going on than he was telling. No doubt there was a reason they were being sent in, and it couldn't possibly be to their benefit. With that added to what Dr. Peterson had told them, she felt as if there was a storm on the horizon and they had no way of avoiding it.

"We'll go through the Stephens file again," Max said with a definite sinking feeling, "and we'll take care of it."

"Here." Ingram took a card from the breast pocket of his jacket. He set it on the table. "This is where you can contact us. We will expect daily updates."

"We'll contact you when we contact you." Alec's tone was firm, and his statement quickly resulted in a staring match with the Familiar. From her own experience, Max knew that Alec was a true predator. He could wait and wait, patiently staring down his prey. Ingram must have finally realized it too, because he broke off first.

"Very well. Frankly, we knew to expect no less when dealing with animals."

"This animal is going to feed you to the wolves if you make one more remark like that," Alec warned. He nodded toward Fred and Barney. Fred was grinning, flashing his teeth again, while Barney was growling low in his throat.

"Do what you must," Ingram said offhandedly, although he kept his nervous gaze on the two guards. "It doesn't matter as long as you find Cabot and stop him. To be blunt, we'd hoped you would have done better research on the file and already handled this."

"Enough," Max snapped. She was tired of the back and forth. She wanted this man off their property and she wanted a plan in place. "Fred, Barney, escort him to the gate." Without further ado, she stood and walked toward the door, sensing Alec following behind her.

They walked toward Command in silence, stopping only long enough to tell the waiting crowd that the Familiar was leaving. Sig in particular looked disgruntled.

As they walked into Command, the tension in the air was palpable. Everyone knew that a Familiar showing up could only mean bad news. Max and Alec walked into the center of the room and motioned for everyone to gather round.

"All right," Max said, "everybody listen up. We have a problem. The Familiar says that one of their people has gone off the reservation and is working on a virus that will bring them down. It's keyed to something funky in their DNA. The problem is that Sandeman was one of them and he wanted us all to have that same DNA sequence. I'm not sure how many of us actually do, but apparently, it'll be lethal to those of us who have it. Where's the team working on the Stephens file?" Dix raised his hand and Max turned to address him. "This guy's name is Cabot. He's using Stephens as a middleman to get contraband supplies for a lab somewhere in the Midwest." Her gaze moved over the crowd. "Anybody who can help with the file, drop whatever you're doing and focus on this. As soon as you find something, come get us."

There was a lull while everyone took in what she'd said and the full disaster became apparent. Dix was the first to move. He turned away, gathering up the others who'd been helping him with the research. That seemed to spur everyone else back into motion as well, and they all hurried to help as best they could.

Max walked into her office and after a moment, Alec followed, closing the door behind him.

"Could this day get any worse?" he asked tiredly.

"Of course it could," she replied. "Mole could volunteer to train the X-7's again."

Alec's eyes widened comically. "I didn't know transgenics could cry like that. Poor kids were traumatized. And that's saying a lot coming from people raised by Manticore."

Max smiled and Alec's smile echoed hers until he seemingly remembered that they weren't getting along at the moment. His smile faded and he sidestepped away from her, not quite meeting her eyes. Max's heart clenched painfully at the distance he was placing between them, and she desperately wished she had the time to try to fix it. Unfortunately, they had no such luxury.

"I think you should stay here. You can run the negotiations for the medical equipment the doc needs and you can smooth-talk a geneticist into coming. A regular doctor, too."

He snorted. "Yeah, because geneticists just grow on trees."

"Are you gonna be a jerk about this, or are you just gonna do it?" Max said, bristling at his attitude. She knew she shouldn't get angry again, that it would only widen the gap between them, but patience and understanding had never really been her strong points.

Alec sighed, turning slightly away from her. "Fine, Max. I'll find someone and talk them into coming." He eyed her suspiciously. "What are you going to be doing?"

"I was thinking about heading east and finding this guy before he manages to kill us all. That ok with you?" She tried to tone down the bitchiness, but doubted it worked from the look on Alec's face. For a second, she saw fear in his eyes, fear that he'd pushed her away or pushed her too far, or pushed her into taking the more dangerous mission. Something. It was there for only a moment and then was gone just as quickly.

"Alec-" she tried, only to be abruptly cut off.

"Fine. Go. I'll figure it out."

"Is there a problem?" she said, admittedly a bit too harshly. "Is this about earlier? All I asked was for the facts."

"Don't." His voice was hard, forbidding. "Just don't, Max. I don't want to talk about it."

"We _need_ to talk about this." She hated to push, but she unexpectedly decided that she needed to. She'd been walking on eggshells around him for too long. She'd cut him some slack after the deprogramming sessions had so badly rattled him, but maybe she'd let it go on too long. Maybe she'd let too many of his old Manticore issues fester longer than she should.

Suddenly, they heard a shout outside the office. They both bolted for the door and ran into the other room to see a group of people standing in a circle. Max shoved her way through the crowd to see Stat. She was on her knees leaning over, clutching her distended abdomen, her face lined with pain.

"Stat, what happened?"

"Something's wrong," she said through gritted teeth, then drew in a sobbing, gasping breath. "Please," Stat grasped Max's hand in a crushing grip, "the baby…"

Max looked up and pointed to the closest person. "Find Dr. Peterson. Somebody else find her husband. Tell him to meet us at Peterson's office."

One of the men scooped Stat up and charged toward the door, heading for their makeshift doctor's office without delay. Max started to follow, and just out of habit, turned to make sure that Alec was following. It was shocking to see that he was not. Instead, he was still well across the room talking to Mole and Dix, although she could tell he was watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"You coming?" she asked, keeping her tone level.

Alec excused himself from the conversation and walked over to Max. She saw that he was watching the doorway where people were still shuffling through it following after Stat, an odd faraway look on his face.

"Dix's people have tracked down the lab the Familiar was talking about. Now that we know what to look for, it was relatively easy."

"Great, I'll get on it after we take care of Stat." Dr. Peterson's news had somehow made it her primary goal to make sure this particular pregnancy made it to term. Maybe it was stupid, but she felt like if she could help Stat, then maybe there was a chance for the rest of them.

Once again, Alec looked toward the door, although everyone who was going had already left. From the expression on his face, he was feeling exactly the opposite of how she was. Everything she had was telling her to go, while Alec looked like the last place he wanted to be was anywhere associated with the breeding process.

"Max, I…" He trailed off and she could see how troubled and confused he was, although he was hiding it well. His eyes, however, always betrayed him at times like these.

"What?" she said, suddenly angry again. "Look. Who cares that you have leftover Manticore breeding partner issues when the future of our entire people is at stake?"

"You think I don't care?" he snapped, meeting her anger, although he kept his tone purposely low so as to not draw attention.

"From the way you're acting? I'm not so sure." She knew it was a lie, but she was so angry, angry at everything and everybody, and her mouth was on autopilot.

"Fine," he said, his eyes suddenly blazing with fury. "If you think I don't care, then _you_ figure out how to get a geneticist in here. _You_ get Peterman's equipment for him. _You_ get a human doctor. I'm gonna go kill an ex-Familiar and his homicidal lab partners. I may screw everything else up, but I can still do that much."

He didn't even wait for her response. He just marched toward the door, shouting orders as he passed. He pulled out his phone and she knew he was talking to one of his teammates, telling them to rendezvous at their usual meeting place.

Max's anger quickly drained away at the sudden turn of events and at the realization that she'd made the situation worse. In better times, Alec would have cajoled her out of her anger, or smooth-talked her, or reassured her somehow. He would have been a reasonable, calming influence. Now, however, he was just as volatile as she was and it was an explosive combination.

For a moment, Max considered running after him, hitting him, and then locking up his unconscious body until he was ready to tell her what was bothering him, because she knew it was definitely more than her just asking about whether or not they were breeding partners. By asking, she'd inadvertently triggered something else, some memory that was causing this erratic, angry behavior. Whatever progress he'd made while they'd rested up had been wiped away by this news.

Max sighed and began walking toward Dr. Peterson's office. She had to see to Stat, she had to talk to the doctor, and then she had to get whatever he needed as soon as possible. Once he'd examined Stat, he might have some certain piece of equipment that he would need first. That, or he'd just move her to a human hospital, depending on the situation. After that she would start making calls.

Max growled in frustration. She hated making calls. She hated it almost as much as she hated negotiating deals. That was Alec's area of expertise.

This whole situation was just upside down. She wanted Alec back, and she wanted him well. She needed him with her and stable.

At the moment, however, she just wasn't sure how to manage that. First things first. Stat. Supplies. Then make Alec talk.

Sure. Easy as pie.

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><p><em>More soon…<em>


	6. Chapter 6

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_Work was slow, so another quick chapter for ya._

Chapter Six

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><p>Max was so frustrated she could tear her hair out. The telephone was her new enemy. She'd also learned that fax machines were evil and that salesmen were even worse. They smiled and they cajoled and they'd rob you blind if you weren't looking. She didn't know how Alec could stand it. This was one of his main occupations now and it was worse than dealing with White and his goons. At least then she could hit people who were getting in her way.<p>

It didn't help that there was no word from Alec and his team. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but with Alec so off kilter, she was nervous. Her guilt for being part of what had him so off kilter didn't help either.

Dr. Peterson, along with Dr. Shankar, had managed to stabilize Stat, but she was on permanent bed rest and the doctors still looked worried. They'd used lots of big words to describe what was wrong, at least as well as they understood it, but Max had only heard, _Get the equipment, get it now, and bring me a genetics expert, several if you can manage it._

Oddly enough, getting a geneticist to come to Terminal City had been the easy part. All she'd had to do was put out the word the transgenics were looking for help and they'd been practically knocking down the door. The geneticists were apparently fascinated by their make-up and were dying to get their hands on it. There were already several on site and within the next day or two she would have an entire team coming into the city. They hadn't even asked for money. They simply wanted access to samples from the population and the right to publish their findings in scholarly journals.

Max sighed. She would put up with strangers on their turf if it would help Stat. If it helped the rest of them, then she would put up with their DNA sequences being discussed in print. That didn't mean she hadn't placed the geneticists under 24 hour guard. She trusted these people to help, but she didn't trust them _that_ much.

Since the first arrival, word was starting to get around and she knew there had to be rumors flying. She would have to make an announcement shortly, but she was putting it off. Maybe that was cowardly, but she couldn't bring herself to tell everyone else. Her dreams might be in the tank. She hated to share the feeling.

Suddenly, the door flew open and slammed against the wall behind. Sig stormed through the door, red-faced and furious. He walked straight to the desk and slammed his knuckles down, leaning across it and purposely crowding her. For Max's part, she'd been threatened by the best. Sig wasn't the best.

"Can I help you?" she asked coolly.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Max was pretty sure she knew, but she would wait for Sig to say it.

"Is. It. True?" he bit out. "Don't screw with me on this. We deserve to know."

Max sighed, wanting to slam her head into the desk in frustration. "Close the door."

Sig did as she asked, then began pacing in front of her desk. He looked as agitated as she felt and she was surprised to see it. Sig was about as far from a fatherly, nurturing type as she could think of.

"Well?" he demanded impatiently. "Is it true?"

"You mean is it true that this place is gonna turn into a senior citizens village and then into a ghost town?" She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Pretty much."

Sig looked like he'd been punched in the stomach. He sat down abruptly, and for a second Max thought he was going to pass out. Sig was well known for being the world's biggest jerk. He was demanding, excessively violent, brutal when it came to punishing anyone he thought had crossed him, and about as easy to reason with as a rampaging rhino. He'd made a bid to take control of the city from them only to have Max face him down and Alec give him a lesson in office politics with his fists.

"The Doc says we're pretty much all sterile," she began, deciding to go with just laying out the bare facts. "It's why Manticore had to whip us up in test tubes. They had to manipulate the DNA to make a fetus that could be carried to term. The breeding program was a stop-gap measure that had crummy results, but it was the best they could come up with. Without our breeding partners or a lab to help us, odds are we're gonna be the last of our kind."

Now Sig looked practically ill. He was staring at the floor, all color drained from his face.

"You ok?" she asked. To be honest, it felt surreal to try to comfort Sig of all people.

"Am I ok?" He looked up at her. "Am I _ok_?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know what I did to my breeding partner?" he snapped.

"No," she replied coldly, "and I don't want to." Unfortunately, she could imagine and once again she was grateful it was Alec who'd been sent to her cell and not someone like Sig.

"She's here in the city. She _still_ cries whenever she sees me and you're telling me she's my only shot at having a kid?"

"Pretty much."

Sig swore viciously. "I had no choice. None." He looked at her as if begging her to understand. "They'd have put me back in Psy-Ops. I was already on thin ice after the Dusseldorf job went south. Said I wasn't _aggressive_ enough. They were watching me like a hawk. When she…" He ran his hand through his hair and stood again, pacing back and forth. "Of _course_, I didn't want to… They were watching and I…"

Max didn't know why but she felt the need to reassure him. Maybe it was because she'd seen Alec in much the same state only a day or so before. She'd had no idea the breeding program had caused so much turmoil for the others. Even now, she wanted Alec back in TC so she could talk to him, preferably without the yelling and accusations this time.

"We have a team coming in. Doctors and geneticists. They're going to do their best to help us, all right? If it's possible, we'll make it happen."

Sig just nodded and kept pacing. "Are you going to tell the others?"

"Yes. They deserve to know." She came to a sudden decision. "If you'll ask everyone to meet outside in an hour, I'll make the announcement and answer questions." She'd put it off too long already. She'd been hoping to wait until Alec got back since he was better at talking to the others than she was.

"Good." Sig walked to the door and wrenched it open again. He shook his head again in disbelief. "Freaking Manticore." Sig stalked out, slamming the door behind him.

Max sighed when the phone on her desk rang. Probably a salesmen. Again. She really wished Alec was there.

* * *

><p>Alec couldn't begin to say how glad he was Max wasn't there.<p>

"Fall back," he ordered. "Fall back. Exit point Bravo."

The lab didn't just have a few security guards. It didn't just have a decent security system. It had one of the tightest security plans he'd ever seen and a corps of guards who were probably mercs and they were not messing around. On top of that the security system was top of the line, like pre-pulse top of the line.

They couldn't even wait for Cabot and his people to come out and catch them then. There were apparently living quarters on site so the workers were still secure after hours. The ex-Familiar had to know his former brothers would come for him and he wasn't taking any chances.

Alec hustled around the corner and saw that the others were already waiting for him, all looking a little harried and annoyed.

"Who gave us the intel on this place?" Alec hissed.

"The usual," Slick answered. He was looking particularly annoyed. Alec kept him on his crew because the guy could get through any door known to man. That he was having trouble said just how tough this place was. "Secretary Gordon's office gave us some, Logan found some and we got the rest."

"Well, you're all fired," Alec said, only half joking. This was a cluster waiting to happen. Alec ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Ok, people, think," he whispered. "We're gonna have to do this another way."

The group remained completely silent for several minutes and Alec was grateful the ultra-sensitive alarm system didn't pick up the sounds of brains whirring with activity.

"There's a door," Slick finally whispered. "It's in the wrong place for where we need to be, on the other side of the complex, but I think I can get us through that way."

"You think or you know?" Alec asked. He knew he sounded a little stern, but there was a lot riding on the answer.

Slick responded confidently, "I know."

"Fine," Alec accepted easily. He trusted his people when they said they could do something. "Which door is it? We'll figure out a route back to where we need."

"Corridor C, door 11."

Everyone nodded and Alec could see them immediately reorient their thinking. They'd all memorized the blueprints and they'd worked together long enough that they knew how to rearrange and replan almost automatically.

"If we get in that way," Pope said, "we can follow the ventilation route through the lower level. We'll just have to get through the interior sensors."

Jig nodded. "That should be ok. I can handle the sensors if Slick can get us in."

"Everybody good with that?" Alec asked and was answered with a chorus of nods. "Ok, then."

Almost as one, they began to move. It took long minutes of stopping and starting careful movement around the complex, moving through camera blind spots and around sensor arrays. They finally reached the spot and breached the exterior door easily enough. They moved down the interior corridor, going one at a time to avoid an oscillating camera until they reached the door. By the time Alec got there, Slick was working on the lock.

"Thirty seconds," Alec urged.

"Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively, but a fine sheen of sweat had broken out on his brow.

"Fifteen seconds."

Slick had the wiring out and had connected a small computer that he was typing into frantically.

"Ten seconds," Alec warned. "The alarm's going to sound. We need to get out."

"Just wait," Slick hissed. "I can get it!"

"Five seconds." Alec turned to order everyone to evacuate. The guards would be on them almost immediately.

"There!" Slick said in triumph, and the door slid open. Alec ushered the others through and then followed. He gave Slick a congratulatory slap on the back, then focused once again on the job.

All of a sudden, the man in the lead stopped.

"What's wrong?" Alec asked.

Jig turned to him, horror dawning on his face. He raised his hand and smacked it against something hard and Alec realized the entire corridor was closed off with clear Plexiglas.

"Back," Alec ordered. "Everybody out."

They turned and saw that on the other side of the door they'd just come through were a full dozen armed guards. They were in SWAT type gear, guns aimed, and they looked like they would shoot them as soon as look at them.

Alec's headache came back with a vengeance. He'd been right the first time. This was a cluster waiting to happen.

They were trapped.

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><p><em>More soon…<em>


	7. Chapter 7

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_This chapter might be a little awkward, so fair warning._

Chapter Seven

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><p>Alec stared at the white walls around them and tried to distract himself from the fact that the situation kept becoming more and more grim. Not long after they'd been captured, the door had opened and they'd been ordered to disarm. When they hadn't moved fast enough, one of the guards had put a bullet in Jig's knee. They'd quickly complied after that.<p>

Soon afterward, while Jig had remained with them, bleeding despite their efforts at a makeshift bandage, the guards had appeared again and ordered Pope to go with them. Never let it be said they didn't learn from their mistakes. Pope hadn't hesitated. He'd gone with them, and Alec had no doubt he was mentally cataloguing everything for their eventual escape plan.

That had been well over an hour ago. The door to their cell opened again. Pope was being dragged between two guards who were flanked by several more guards with guns at the ready. They opened the door and threw Pope inside. The guard in front then pointed to Slick. The Transgenic looked toward Alec as if he might somehow save him, but the sound of a safety being clicked off had Slick moving through the door.

Alec clenched his jaw, furious that he was helpless to protect his friend. Slick was younger than he was, not nearly as experienced. He didn't have the familiarity the rest of them did with how ugly things could get.

As soon as the door closed behind the guards, Alec hurried to kneel beside Pope. "You ok? What happened?"

Pope had rolled onto his back and was holding very still. He looked far too pale, and his eyes were glassy. "Tests," he whispered. "Lots of tests. Passed out."

"You see anything that will help us?"

"I… There was…" Pope blinked, his face drawn up in confusion. "There was a, uh…"

"It's ok," Alec said. "Just take a minute."

It was a testament to just what bad shape Pope was in that he immediately closed his eyes and sagged back against the floor. "Just need a sec," he slurred.

Settling in to wait, Alec scooted back against the wall, if possible, even more frustrated than he had been. He raised his knees and rested his elbows on them. This whole situation just got worse and worse, Familiars and mad scientists, and on top of that, the bomb that the vet had dropped on them. It really wasn't his best week.

He'd been so stunned at the news he'd barely been able to think straight. When Max started asking questions about the breeding program, it was like his brain had shorted out. He could see that Max was reeling, that she was as angry, as shocked, as confused and heartbroken as he was, even though they'd never even thought about the possibility of having kids. He could see all that, but she'd started snapping questions and making demands, and all sorts of horrible memories has resurfaced. Memories of Manticore, followed by memories of Psy-Ops, which were never far away these days. His handlers had, in no uncertain terms, informed him that failure in any way shape or form would be punished, immediately and severely.

Max had kept pushing and he'd gotten angrier and angrier. His defenses had slammed into place and nothing after that had come out right.

Freaking Manticore. They could screw up anything, everything from his body to his relationship with his wife. They were the gift that kept on giving.

Sterile. It kinda hurt a guy's masculine pride to know that no matter what he was pretty much useless to a woman in need. It wasn't that he'd wanted to start a family really. The situation in Terminal City was touch and go at times, and a transgenic wasn't really safe out in the open.

Still… to know that he'd never have a son to pass on what he knew. He'd never have a daughter with Max's eyes and her sassy attitude. It felt like his body still didn't belong to him. Manticore still owned him body and soul, and unless they decided he needed to procreate it wouldn't happen.

Abruptly, as if just thinking of his former home had caused it, his mind was suddenly filled with memories of Manticore, crashing over him in waves. He felt the pain, the joy, the fear, the guilt, the pride. Scenes passed before his eyes as if they had just happened, to the point of agony. It was too much for his brain to handle at one time.

The problem was that it had been happening too often lately. Ever since the former Psy-Ops people had done their second deprogramming session to ensure that he was completely free of the compulsion, he'd been having flashbacks, painful, unbelievably vivid flashbacks. He knew they made him moody and difficult to work with, but he didn't know what else to do. He couldn't bring himself to tell Max that he had a screw loose. She was already under far too much stress, some of it caused by his own erratic behavior. She didn't need more problems. Alec would figure it out. That or he would eventually figure out how to hide it better. He was good at that sort of thing.

He would hide it. He _could_ hide it. Yet, even as he thought it, he once again saw Max's face when she'd asked him if he'd really been her breeding partner. He'd seen the hope and the fear and the disgust all bound up together. She hadn't been there for the briefing all the men had received prior to being assigned a partner. She didn't know what they'd told them to do. He hoped she _never_ knew.

Manticore had told them to do so many things. Ignoring orders was not an option. They were never given options, and opting out meant punishment. It meant time in Psy-Ops. It meant re-indoctrination.

"Alec."

He looked up and saw that the others were staring at him. Pope was conscious again. He'd propped himself up against the opposite wall next to Jig and Alec wondered just how much time had passed. The other two, Craft and Icky, were also watching him worriedly.

"What?"

"You want to tell us why you look like someone kicked you in the crotch?" Jig asked.

Alec tried to school his expression, but gave up. His head was killing him and he didn't have the strength. "Just thinking."

"This have anything to do with why you and Max were yelling at each other before we left? Cause you look more upset now than you did when we got caught."

Alec sighed. He wasn't surprised at how quickly word had gotten around. "Yeah. We, uh… we got some bad news."

"We, as in you two, or we as in all of us?" Craft asked.

"All of us." Max had probably told everyone by now. That made it his job to tell his team. They deserved to know, too. These weren't exactly the conditions he would've chosen, however.

"What is it?"

"You sure you wanna know?" he asked. "We've kinda got our hands full here."

"We have time," Pope cut in. "The guards change out every hour and from what I saw. We can't make a move until then."

"I could use something else to think about," Icky said. "Cause staring at these walls and watching you have an aneurism aren't as much fun as you'd think."

Alec gave him a pained smile. "Thanks, Ick. Glad to know you care."

"I'm all heart," he returned. "Now spill."

"The, uh…" How did you tell a bunch of guys they were shooting blanks? It wasn't really in the team leader handbook. "Dr. Peterson came to see us."

"What did the vet want?"

"He was asking for some extra equipment. Apparently there have been quite a few miscarriages since we started pairing off."

"Miscarriages?" Craft looked confused and the others also frowned in concentration.

"Yeah." Alec ran a hand over his face and decided he was just going to have to say it. "We're probably sterile. All of us. Our DNA is too messed up. None of us are going to be able to have kids unless it's a miracle or the test tube brigade makes it happen. That's why we've had so few pregnancies even though we've all been screwing like rabbits."

He watched as understanding began to dawn on them. He wondered if that was what he'd looked like when the vet had been telling him. If he had to guess, he'd say probably so. His poker face wasn't quite as good as it used to be.

"But… but the breeding program," Craft said helplessly.

"Yeah. Dr. Peterson says they were pairing us up for the best chances, but they probably didn't have much hope. It was just a stopgap until they could get the lab back up and running. I guess I hadn't realized how few pregnancies there were from that. Not that many, and Manticore knew every bit of our DNA to pair us up."

"Wow," Pope said into the silence. "So apparently the money I've been spending on condoms was a massive waste. It's not like we get diseases."

"So, if there's any chance at all," Jig asked for clarification, "it would be with our breeding partners?"

"Yeah," Alec answered. "The odds are lousy, but they're higher than us picking randomly."

"Well, that's just freaking great." Jig shook his head, barely suppressed rage seeping into his tone. "Perfect even. Manticore still gets the last laugh."

"Did…," Alec shifted uncomfortably, "did you guys all have breeding partners assigned to you?"

Three of the men nodded, but not Pope. "I was told my DNA mix wasn't acceptable for procreation," he explained.

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"It means I was good enough to kill people for them, but not much else. They probably had a new, improved version of my DNA in the X-6s." He said it like it didn't bother him, but Alec knew it couldn't be a good thing to be told there was something intrinsically wrong with you. The ordinaries might tell them something was wrong with their very nature, but to know that even among Transgenics you were sub-par had to hurt.

"So, yeah," Pope summed up. "I wasn't allowed anywhere near the breeding program."

"The rest of you got partners though?" Alec asked.

They nodded again, but didn't say anything else. They looked spooked, unhappy. They certainly didn't look like they wanted to share. Alec was pretty sure he didn't want to either, but for some reason he felt like he needed to. Maybe if he figured out how to say it now, he'd know how to talk to Max without her ripping his head off.

"Max kicked me into the door when I told her I was assigned to her. I think she would have kicked me _through_ it if it hadn't been steel." He shook his head. "Not my finest moment."

"You didn't have sex with her though, did you?" Jig's voice was flat, purposely emotionless.

"No. They needed info from Max. I had to earn her trust, so when she said no, I didn't try anything else." He glanced at Jig. "How'd you know?"

Jig smirked and let out a humorless laugh. "Because she'll still talk to you."

"What happened, Jig?" Alec asked into the sudden hush that had fallen over their prison cell.

"What do you think?" he answered harshly. "I followed orders. She took off her pants and we did what we were supposed to do."

The others just nodded. It wasn't like they had a choice. Manticore didn't give its people a choice in anything, no matter how big or small. They followed orders or they suffered.

"She cried," Jig whispered. "I know I hurt her, but she didn't say a word. She just cried."

The room once again fell into strained silence. What was there to say really? There certainly wasn't any way to erase what had happened, and no way to make it better.

"Mine…" Icky cleared his throat nervously. "She was on my team. We'd been partnered up since we were little. It was like being forced to have sex with my sister. I… I couldn't do it the first time and…" He rubbed a hand over his abdomen, but if Alec had to guess he was remembering a pain that was lower. "Renfro sent me for testing to make sure I was _capable_ of performing the mission. The next time, we…" He cleared his throat again. "She talked me through it. We had to figure it out or we were both going to be in trouble. We'd been through everything else together. It was just something else to get through."

All eyes turned toward the last man in the room who hadn't spilled his guts. Craft refused to look at any of them, however, his eyes turned toward the ceiling. Alec wasn't going to ask, and he didn't think the others would either. They all had things they'd done at Manticore that they refused to talk about. This was somehow worse than a mission gone wrong, or some terrible act required of them on a mission. It was too personal, too embarrassing, too painful.

Just when Alec was ready to ask Pope about what he'd seen when he'd been taken out of the room, Craft lowered his gaze. His eyes skipped over their faces, looking for… something. Judgment maybe? Alec wasn't sure.

"She hated me," Craft finally said, a tiny catch in his voice. "Even before they paired us, she hated me. Don't know why. I think maybe because I made her look bad in a training exercise when we were younger, but I've never been sure. When they stuck us in the cell together, I had no clue what I was going to do. I knew she wouldn't let me near her, not while she was breathing anyway." He looked down, staring at his hands clenched tightly in his lap. "Turns out, she'd had the same thought. She told me to knock her out. She said if we had to _copulate_, she didn't want to remember it." He turned his face away from them, unable to bear their scrutiny. "You wanna feel like a rapist, try having sex with an unconscious woman you know already hates you and is gonna hate you more for what you're doing to her."

Alec _could_ imagine it. That was the problem. That was what he'd been trying to tell Max, but had failed miserably. Manticore had been more than happy to ask him to do the dirty work, with no thought for how much it would cost him. His conscience was a torn, shredded little piece of his soul that no matter how much he tried, he couldn't put it back together. The awful truth was that if his orders had been to sleep with Max, he would have done it. He would have a story exactly like the ones he'd just heard, probably worse knowing how Max would have reacted. It would have been one more sin willingly committed in the name of duty, or at least to keep himself out of Psy-Ops' hands.

Selfish as it was, after hearing the others' stories, all Alec could think was how unaccountably grateful he was that his orders had been to gain Max's trust and betray her instead of just have sex with her. If they'd been through something like what the others had faced, he seriously doubted he and Max would have ever come to terms with it. Max never would have forgiven him. He didn't know if he could have forgiven himself.

A disaster of that caliber made dealing with the possibility that they'd never be parents seem like a walk in the park.

The door to their holding pen suddenly opened and Slick was shoved inside. He stumbled forward and fell to the floor, not moving. Alec hurried to his side, and started a Manticore-taught field assessment of a wounded soldier.

"Don't touch me," Slick said, slurring badly. "Infected. Gave me virus," he warned.

Alec instinctively pulled his hands back, but a second later thought better of it and continued his evaluation. Virus or no virus, he wasn't leaving Slick to die on the floor.

"You." The armed guard in the lead pointed his weapon at Alec. "You're next."

Alec stood slowly, counting on the others to see to Slick, and headed toward the exit. As he left, he surreptitiously signaled using the hand the guard couldn't see.

_Be ready_.

* * *

><p><em>Don't worry. I'm not leaving the ladies out of this conversation. More soon…<em>


	8. Chapter 8

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_So let's see if we can get Alec out of trouble…_

Chapter Eight

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><p>Max knocked lightly on the door. She didn't want to disturb Stat if she was resting. If Max were being honest with herself, she wasn't sure why she was even there. The last word was that Stat was doing all right and her husband was looking after her. And yet here Max was on their doorstep.<p>

Almost as soon as she knocked, Stat's husband opened the door. He was a tall, blond, leanly muscled Transgenic, and Max couldn't help thinking Manticore had definitely been going for the Nordic type when they whipped him up.

"Hello, Max."

"Hey, Cam." He'd earned his name by stealing a Camaro when he first got out. The speed had definitely helped him keep ahead of the hunters. Rumor had it, he kept it in a special garage in Seattle now and brought it out on special occasions. "How is she?"

"Bored." He gave her a wan smile. "She's hanging in there, though."

"You mind if I talk to her for a minute?"

"Sure." Cam backed up and let her into the apartment. It looked a lot like Max and Alec's place, serviceable with a few personal items scraped together, but there were definite differences. Cam and Stat were collecting things for the baby. Because of their DNA, there was no set date for the birth, and they had to be ready. A crib stood to one side and there were shelves with some clothes and blankets and cloth diapers.

Cam led the way past them and into an adjoining room where Max could see Stat reclining on a bed surrounded by a sea of mismatched pillows. She looked tired, but in decent spirits, one of her hands resting on her swollen belly.

When she saw Max, she perked up at the prospect of company. "Hi, Max. I'm so glad you came by." She gave her husband a half-baked glare. "I'm bored out of my mind and Cam won't even let me watch TV. He says I might get too excited."

"Doctor's orders," her husband stated firmly, "and until the baby is born, you're doing every single thing they tell you. You got that?"

"Yes, sir." Stat gave him a mock salute, although she tempered it with a wink.

Cam just rolled his eyes. "Max, would you mind staying with Stat for a while? I have a few things to do."

"No problem," she answered quickly.

"I don't need a babysitter," Stat bit out, real frustration showing. "I think I'm capable of sitting here on my own."

"And that's why I caught you cleaning last time I came back?" Cam gave her a disapproving glare.

"I talked to the doctor. He said I was _nesting_."

"He also said for you to stay off your feet. So stop looking at me like I'm the bad guy."

"Then stop being an overprotective jerk." She smiled sweetly.

"Fine." He sighed and turned toward Max who had quickly decided to stay well away from their domestic squabble. "I'll leave her to you. Don't let her get overexcited." The words were said lightly, but his eyes held a promise of retribution if anything happened to her or the baby on Max's watch.

"Got it," Max said succinctly, ignoring the urge to salute as Stat had.

Cam left and as the front door closed behind him, Stat let out an enormous sigh. "I love that guy, but he's making me crazy."

"He's just worried."

"Tell me something I don't know." She looked down and rubbed her belly in a circular motion. "We all are," she whispered. "Aren't we, baby?"

"You feeling, ok?" Max asked nervously. To be honest, she wasn't really the maternal type, and she wasn't good with the one on one personal interaction either, so this whole situation wasn't exactly her thing. In fact, now that she was alone with Stat, she was questioning the wisdom of coming at all.

Stat shrugged. "Could be worse."

"What does the doc say?"

"Mostly medical stuff I don't really understand, and the new doctors are even worse. I think, basically, my body is trying to reject the baby, and they're pumping me full of drugs to keep that from happening. Kinda like for someone who gets an organ transplant." She shrugged again. "It's not the same, but that's how they explained it anyway."

"I'm sure they're doing everything they can."

"I hope so." She looked down at her stomach again, as if the baby might somehow disappear if she didn't keep a close eye on it. Finally, she looked up again. "Why are you here?"

Max was taken aback by the question. It didn't help that she didn't have a real answer. "I wanted to check on you."

"Max, we're not friends," she said plainly. "We barely know each other."

Max shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. "I know. I just… after the news… I want the baby to be ok." It almost felt like the city's entire future depended on it.

Stat smiled and rubbed her belly again. "Sounds like I won the lottery, doesn't it?"

"Huh?"

"Cam wasn't my breeding partner," Stat explained. "According to the doctors, the odds of us having a baby are astronomical." She placed a protective hand over her unborn child and smiled. "But here we are."

"That's wonderful," Max said truthfully. It meant there was some hope. She was willing to take even the tiniest bit.

"Lucky, I guess. That's what Cam keeps telling me." Stat suddenly looked troubled, though.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," she mumbled and turned slightly away. Max didn't need Manticore classes on how to read body language to spot that particular lie.

"Seems like it's something. Maybe a big something," she prodded gently.

Stat didn't say anything and Max just waited. It was an old interrogation technique. People didn't like uncomfortable silence. Eventually they would talk to fill it.

Finally, Stat couldn't stand it any longer. "I'm so afraid, Max," she whispered.

"Dr. Peterson's on it," she assured her. "The new docs, too."

Stat was already shaking her head. "You don't understand. I lost the other baby."

"Other baby?" Max's legs suddenly felt like jelly. She pushed several pillows aside and sat on the edge of the bed.

"With my breeding partner," she confessed quietly. "I lost the baby several months after we escaped. White's people had caught our trail and Cam and I were on the run. I thought maybe the miscarriage was because of all the stress, but I guess not."

"Is… is he here in the city?" Max couldn't help asking.

Stat quickly shook her head. "Oh, no. I think… I worry Cam might kill him if he ever showed up here. He can be a little… territorial."

"How does Cam know about him?"

"Cam and I… We were already together at Manticore."

"What?" Max's voice was barely a squeak.

"We had to be so careful," she said. "Beyond careful. But I loved him and he loved me. We had friends who helped. Carter and Sting and Alec…"

"Alec helped you?"

"He was great at diversions, and even better at knowing who to bribe." She closed her eyes, and Max saw tears trail down her cheeks. "But no one could help when they assigned breeding partners."

"This guy… he…"

"He obeyed orders." Stat's voice was hushed. "And so did I. We had no choice." She stopped for a moment, visibly trying to hold her tattered emotions together. "Cam was away on a mission. When he got back… it broke his heart, but he understood. At least he said he did."

"I'm sorry," Max whispered. What else was there to say really?

"I don't know why I'm telling you this." Stat roughly dried her tear-streaked cheeks. "It's ancient history."

"It brought it all back," Max offered. "The news dug up all of the old crap w… you guys went through." She'd almost said we, but there was no way she could include herself in what the others had faced. Alec had backed off almost immediately when he'd been brought to her cell. She hadn't been ordered to screw another guy while the man she loved was away.

"I didn't even have it as bad as some of the others." Stat sniffed and wiped at her nose with her sleeve. "The guys had orders to procreate no matter what it took. They were given lessons on how to subdue a female specifically for the purposes of intercourse."

"They had to take a rape class?" Max asked, aghast. Had Alec been forced to take that class? Was that part of what her question had dredged up?

Stat just nodded. "Mine… he wasn't violent." She pursed her lips and a fresh set of tears appeared. "He wasn't gentle either, but then it wasn't really about that."

"I can see why Cam would kill him."

Stat shook her head. "It wasn't his fault, wasn't any of ours really. It's just like the rest of everything at Manticore. They got what they wanted and we got screwed," she produced a horrible mockery of a smile, "literally in this case."

Max was reminded of what Alec had said. _There's no good, no bad. Just screwed, and we've got to roll with it._ That led to thinking about the rest of the conversation they'd had and how unsettled he'd been. After seeing Sig and now Stat, both of whom were still deeply troubled by one of their last missions at Manticore, she couldn't help but think about Alec. Despite appearances, she knew how deeply he cared, how affected he was by things that troubled his supposedly nonexistent conscience.

"When I lost the baby," Stat continued unaware of Max's wandering thoughts, "I was almost relieved. And then I felt so guilty for being relieved," she confessed on a whisper, "and I was angry at Cam for being relieved, although he tried not to show it. It was my baby." She rubbed her belly in slow soothing circles. "Just a tiny baby that didn't know anything about how she was made. My baby." She leaned down and whispered something to her unborn child, something Max couldn't hear.

"It was a girl?" Max asked softly.

"She was tiny. So, so tiny. She would have been perfect and I failed her." Stat wrapped her arms around her stomach and looked up at Max, her eyes pleading. "I can't do that again, Max. I can't go through that again. I can't do it to Cam again."

Max decided it was high time she took control of the conversation again. "Well, I'm the one Cam is going to hurt if he comes back and sees you looking like this."

Stat let out a teary laugh. "Yeah, he will. He'll very quietly yell at both of us so he won't upset me anymore."

"Sounds like he's a good guy," Max replied honestly.

"He is." Stat waited until she got eye contact. "Yours isn't so bad either."

"I know." She really wished he was back, too, so she could talk to him, preferably without the yelling this time. He still hadn't checked in, however. She might think he was angry and ignoring her, but she knew he wouldn't ignore protocol just because he was mad.

There was more going on. There had to be. And now she had a new reason to worry.

* * *

><p>Alec was led down another hallway, a complete company of guards accompanying him. He only paid them cursory attention. Rather, he studied the building itself, cataloguing doors, lock types, security features, which rooms were occupied, which weren't, guard stations, etc. If Slick was right and they were being used as guinea pigs for the virus, then they needed out of here yesterday.<p>

The guards stopped in front of a door that looked almost exactly like all of the others except it had lots of "bio-hazard" and "Authorized Personal Only" signs plastered all over it, as well as a security pad. The guard in the lead produced a card and swiped it through the lock, which snapped as the mechanism opened.

One guard opened the door while another poked his gun into Alec's back, urging him inside. He had no choice but to comply and walked in.

The room inside wasn't what he'd been expecting. As a matter of fact it looked like a lot of rooms he'd seen while he was at Manticore. There were two doors on the other side that probably led into a laboratory proper, but this room was very simple. White walls, a large cabinet with doors on one half and drawers on the other, a wheeled-stool, and a high physician's type table in the middle.

Two guards walked into the room behind Alec and positioned themselves on either side of the door. The rest waited outside to escort or rather carry him back once the doctors were through with him.

Alec felt his near-constant headache start at the base of his skull and begin to creep higher. He tried to relax, but his current situation really wasn't helping.

"Get on the table," one of the guards ordered. He was a big guy, mid-twenties, with dark hair and a hard expression that said, "Hi, I'm a sociopath and I'll hurt you because it's fun and that's what I'm paid for."

Alec hopped up on end of the table, his eyes searching the room for anything that might help. Unfortunately, the room was simple for a reason. This place wasn't meant for anything except an exam room. Maybe if he had a chance to get into the cabinets, he could find something to cause some damage, but the armed guards would shoot him before he got a chance.

Suddenly, one of the doors behind him opened, and a man in a lab coat entered. He was short, with dirty blond hair, a large nose, and eyes set too far apart. He was studying papers on a clipboard, and only momentarily looked up to glance at Alec. It was just like the old days at Manticore. How many times had one of the doctors come in and been more interested in their paperwork and their research than in the person, the terrified child, sitting in front of them waiting to be torn apart for investigative purposes?

A flash of pain ripped through his skull and for long seconds he was back at Manticore. Alec squeezed his eyes shut, listening as the doctor came closer, shuffling papers. Pain, always pain. The Manticore doctors made their notes and then the tests followed, no anesthesia allowed because they needed to know the reaction as it happened.

Almost as quickly as it had begun, the agony left him and his mind cleared. He wasn't at Manticore waiting for the tests to begin. He was on a different mission, and the not-Manticore doctor was staring at him oddly, as if Alec had surprised him.

"What was that?" the doctor demanded.

"What was what?" Alec rasped, and realized he was breathing rapidly.

One of the guards stepped forward and aimed his gun at Alec's head. "Answer the doctor, or I'll kill you and save us all the trouble."

"Take it easy, buddy," Alec said. "I just need a hint."

The doctor cocked his head like dog. "It appeared you had a small… episode. Rather like a seizure."

"Huh." Alec shrugged. "Some of the transgenics have a serotonin deficiency. If we don't get supplements we go into seizures and die."

Apparently his Psy-Ops fried brain had upped its game to waking blackouts. It was a very bad sign, but he really didn't feel up to explaining his post-deprogramming issues to a stranger. The shakes seemed as good an explanation as any.

"How long can you go without the supplement?"

"Depends on the transgenic. Some of us require daily supplements, others can control it with a glass of milk every day or two. Some even longer."

"Milk?"

"Tryptophan."

"Ah," the doctor said, as if it were interesting, but not really important. "Take your shirt off and lie back, please."

Alec didn't really feel like it, but a cold look from one of the guards had him tossing his t-shirt away, scooting back on the table and lying down. He felt a hand, cold, glove-covered fingers on his shoulder. Once again, pain ripped through his skull and he couldn't withhold a noise that sounded like a wounded animal to his ears.

_Tests, always tests at Manticore. If he failed, they ran tests. If he succeeded they ran tests. If someone with his genes failed or succeeded they ran tests. He could feel the instruments digging into his skin, feel the Psy-Ops people digging into his brain until all he could do was scream. He'd never bothered begging for mercy. There was no mercy to be had at Manticore._

The pain subsided and Alec came back to himself, panting, staring at the blank ceiling. This was bad, very bad. He'd been having flashbacks before, but not like this, not in such quick succession, not this debilitating.

He raised his head and saw that the guards were looking at him like he was an even bigger freak than they'd thought. An IV had been inserted into his arm and a quick look told him that they'd done who knew how many other tests while he'd been out. His chest and abdomen were sore with several small incisions and puncture marks visible, as well as several other puncture marks on his arms. He felt unaccountably weak, but he didn't know if that was because of the blackout, the amount of blood they taken, or a sedative, or the tests. He just didn't know and having another "episode," as the doctor had called it, wasn't exactly helping him keep track of what was going on.

Alec turned his head when he heard one of the guards key-up his mic and say, "He's awake."

"How long was I out?" Alec asked, and was met with silence. "Oh, come on. Just give me a hint," he coaxed. "You can still be the perfect evil henchmen and tell me."

"Over half an hour," the non-sociopath said.

"Shut up, Conrad," the other snapped.

"Half an hour?" Alec said, stunned. A few flashbacks were one thing, but full blackouts were another. He'd never be able to hide that from Max. Worse, his _episode_ had left the others alone during his freak-out. If they'd been infected, then there was no time for his issues.

The man from earlier, still in his lab coat and carrying his clipboard, came back into the room. He looked up briefly as if to verify his patient, more like subject, was still there for experimentation, then looked right back down at his paperwork.

"Are you Cabot?" Alec asked.

That got the man's attention and he finally looked Alec full in the eyes. "Where did you hear that name?"

"We keep track of people trying to kill us," he replied wryly. "Just one of our quirks."

"I am trying to save humanity. The cult will release the virus eventually when the promised apocalypse does not arrive. They will kill everyone just to prove they were right."

"So you're going to snuff them first. See, the problem is that you're going to take us out with them."

"It's unfortunate, but true." Cabot shrugged, and Alec could only think that these breeding cult people were possibly even more cutthroat than Manticore, which was saying something. Manticore had been willing to burn down a facility full of children to cover their asses. This guy was willing to kill all of the Transgenics, plus all of his former _friends,_ who hadn't actually _done_ anything yet. "If it makes you feel any better, I have very carefully altered the virus. No one will be harmed except those with this particular genetic oddity."

"And if people in the general population have it?" Alec asked. Cabot stepped closer, pulling a stethoscope from a pocket, and Alec could feel his heart begin to pound.

"The odds are one in a million and with the insular nature of people since the Pulse, illnesses do not spread like they used to."

Cabot set the cold stethoscope against his chest and Alec jumped involuntarily. This wasn't natural and Alec knew his reactions were off, but even now he could feel the edges of his vision blurring, and he fought with everything he had to keep another flashback at bay. And if he worked this right…

"One of you will have to hold him," Cabot ordered.

Sociopath guard looked particularly willing to assist. He hurried forward and grabbed Alec's upper arms, which was a mistake. Before the guard could react, Alec had pulled the gun out of the man's holster, twisted, kicked the guard in the chest, hopped off the table and grabbed Cabot.

Alec backed up, pressing the gun to Cabot's neck. "Either of you moves and I kill him. Understand?"

"You're a dead man," Mr. I'm-a-big-bad-sociopath said. "Nobody touches my gun."

"One," Alec said, "I'm not a man. Two, I already took it because you stink at your job. That's your problem, not mine."

The other guard, Conrad, began edging toward one side of the room, as if Alec wouldn't notice.

"What did I just say?" Alec barked. "Don't move."

Conrad stopped dead and looked to the other guard for guidance. Alec assumed there was some sort of panic button on that side of the room and made a mental note to keep them away from it.

"All right." Alec kept his tone sharp, despite the fact that he suddenly felt like death on a cracker. His entire body was both tense and exhausted and his belly in particular was sore and he wondered what the good doctor had been up to. He could also tell he'd been given a spinal at some point and the fact that he knew exactly what that felt like was definitely unpleasant.

"Here's how this is going to work. We're going to make our way back to where the others are being held. Anyone so much as twitches, I will personally acquaint them with my marksmanship skills."

There was a sudden flurry of noise coming from the lab. Alec could hear glass breaking and several people shouting. After another second, the door into the lab burst open.

Icky poked his head through and grinned. "You have them tied up yet?"

Alec laughed and felt an angry twinge as his muscles protested. "Working on it."

"You're running a little behind. We thought we'd better lend a hand."

"Have I told you you're my favorite, Icky?"

"Thank the idiot guard who Okayed a bathroom break."

"Gotta love the idiot guards." Alec glanced at Mr. Sociopath and smiled maliciously.

"Craft is downloading everything he can find. That Cabot?"

"Actually, I just picked a random, totally replaceable lab tech to hold hostage."

Icky rolled his eyes, then came further into the room. "You two," he said to the guards, "kneel. Hands behind your heads. Cross your ankles."

The sociopath's expression was murderous. If he didn't like anyone touching his gun, he liked being ordered into an assassination pose even less. Conrad, on the other hand, looked terrified.

"Please, mister. I've got kids. My wife… she…"

Icky ignored the pleading and walked up behind the man. While Alec covered him, he efficiently pulled his hands down and zip-tied them behind his back. He then brought the butt of his gun down in the exact Manticore approved spot for incapacitating a victim. Conrad's pleas abruptly stopped and he toppled forward. Icky moved behind Mr. Sociopath and zip-tied his hands as well.

"You won't get away with this. You're already infected. You're dead and you just don't know it."

Alec grinned. "I'm married to Max. Trust me. I know scary and you're not it." He nodded and Icky brought his pistol down viciously. The man crumpled to the floor and for a moment Alec wanted to as well as exhaustion pulled at him. Instead, he tightened his grip on Cabot and began pulling him toward the door.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p><em>More soon…<em>


	9. Chapter 9

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_So Alec's a mess, the team's infected, and Max is about to be very, very unhappy..._

Chapter Nine

* * *

><p>The trip back to Terminal City was made in silence. The closer they got, the more Alec was sure the virus wasn't just in play. It was spreading. Slick and Pope were feverish, and nearly immobile. By looking at the others, he could tell they too weren't feeling their best and it was progressing rapidly. Once that was clear, Alec knew he was going to have to make a call. He picked up his cell and dialed.<p>

"_Command_."

Despite the grave situation, Alec smiled at the sound of Mole's gruff voice. He hated being put on phone duty.

"Hey, Mole."

"_You better be about to tell me your ass is on the way back_."

"Aw… you missed me. I'm touched."

"_You're needed_," Mole said, completely ignoring their normal jibes. He sounded… nervous. Mole didn't get nervous.

"Problem?"

"_Yeah. Fearless Leader told everyone what the vet said and now everything's gone down the toilet_."

"What happened?"

"_It's like a soap opera, only with Uzi-toting, pissed off ninjas_."

Alec let out an involuntary burst of laughter. "Ninjas?"

"_Stealthy, deadly, highly trained and defending the family honor_."

Alec shook his head in disbelief. "I never should have got you those pre-Pulse movies."

"_Bribery is the only reason I put up with you, Pretty Boy. Suck it up_."

Alec snorted. "So what's really going on?" he asked more seriously.

"_It's quiet. Too quiet. Except every once in a while a skirmish breaks out. People who were breeding partners try to talk, or people who are dating someone who wasn't their breeding partner talk, or catch them talking to their old breeding partner, on and on and on_." Mole growled in annoyance. "_The injuries are starting to stack up_."

"Great. Just great." Alec shook his head. It was to be expected really. It was what happened as soon as he and Max found out. There hadn't been any literal punches thrown, but that didn't mean he hadn't taken one on the jaw.

"_Makes me glad guys like me were freaks even at Manticore_," Mole snarled. "_They put us down if they caught us with a female. Shoulda done it for everybody. Woulda been easier_."

Alec had no response to that. He didn't know whether to address Mole's well-earned issues or the breeding program or Manticore's shoot first, ask questions later policy. So he did what he did best. He shoved it aside and moved on.

"Mole, I'm calling for a reason."

"_What_?" he snapped angrily.

"We're still a few hours out, but we're going to need a clear path into the city and a set quarantine area." They were going to have to be kept separate if they didn't want to infect the others. He wouldn't have gone back at all, but Dr. Peterson and the files they'd brought were their only hope.

Alec could hear Mole chewing on his cigar. "_Why_?"

"Take a guess."

"_You dumbasses got infected by the virus you were sent to stop_."

"See?" Alec said cheerfully. "You're very smart. That's why you're on phone duty."

"_You're gonna be the death of me_."

"Hey, I'm the one dying here," Alec pointed out with forced lightness.

"_I'm the one who's gonna have to tell the _boss_, Princess_."

Alec nodded even though Mole couldn't see him. "Ya got me there." He didn't want to think about Max. Couldn't. Not right now. It was more than he could bear. He wasn't feeling sick yet, but he had no doubt it was coming and soon. One glance at the others told him his hours were numbered.

"We're also going to need another separate space set up. We have Cabot. He's the expert on this virus, and he'll have to be decontaminated before he can be _encouraged_ to help us." They'd probably have to leave him in Peterson's home/lab just outside TC. Due to the toxin levels Peterson couldn't actually live with them. Alec would go there, but then Peterson's office would be contaminated and the other transgenics wouldn't be able to go.

"_You think Cabot will help_?"

Alec sighed. "Probably not. We at least got most of his research downloaded. We'll have to see if anything can be done with that. I'll have Icky forward the files to you."

"_You may be in luck. There are so many lab coats running around here right now I could throw a rock and hit one_."

"Huh?"

"_Max put out the word we were looking for geneticists and I think nearly every last one in the country showed up. They brought buddies, too, from other fields so they can have a confab. We're apparently fascinating_."

"As long as nobody gets shot for their genetics not being fascinating enough."

"_What do want me to tell her_?" Mole asked, and there was no need to say who _she_ was. "_Cause she don't exactly take 'no comment' for an answer_."

"Tell her…" Alec felt as if there were a heavy weight pressing on his chest. Too soon… They'd just started to get back on an even keel, despite his temperament problems and moods, despite how sick Max had been and how long it had taken the lingering effects to finally pass, a lot longer that she would ever admit.

Alec cleared his throat. "Just… tell her I'll be home soon."

* * *

><p>Mole set the handset down and swiveled his chair to look at her. Max knew her knuckles were white where they were holding the table to keep her steady.<p>

Too soon… They were finally getting themselves back together. The lingering effects of the poison had finally faded. Even after she'd received the antidote, it had hurt just to be touched, although she'd never mentioned it to Alec. He'd known though and her jumpiness had only added to Alec's moodiness and temper, the nightmares that plagued him ever since his deprogramming sessions.

She and Alec were finally on the mend. They _were_ and now this.

Max squared her shoulders. The people of Terminal City needed her. She could have a breakdown later. She was getting really tired of putting off her breakdowns. One of these days she was going to get the chance to just sit down and have a good cry, whenever and wherever she wanted to.

"Clear out the building by tunnel C," she ordered. "That will give them access into the city without crossing anyone's path and then keep them a safe distance from everyone once they're here. Peterson and the lab people will have easy access to them, too. Put out the word no one goes near that building or that tunnel either, then let Dr. Peterson know we've got incoming… wounded. He'll tell the rest of the science types."

"On it. I'll get the files to Peterson, too. He can decide what to do with Cabot."

"Fine. I…" Max stood there, unsure of what to do next. She had nothing she could offer the doctors or specialists. There were no pressing missions that needed her attention. Stat was still on bed rest and after Max's visit, her husband was refusing to let anyone anywhere near her until the baby was born. The rest of the population was barely talking to each other since the announcement, other than the occasional fist fight when tempers flared, and there was nothing she could do about that either. She had nothing to do except worry about her husband who was infected and getting ill while she stood there uselessly. "I'll be in my office."

* * *

><p>Alec set Slick down on the cot very gently while Icky helped Pope lie down on one of the nearby cots. They had been directly infected and were in the worst shape. Craft was helping Jig whose knee was a mess, but the fever he was sporting had more behind it than just the gunshot wound. Icky and Craft were quickly getting worse as well. Weakness, fever, they were starting to cough as well, although Alec wasn't sure if it was from their lungs filling or from stress on their hearts. He was still waiting for his own symptoms to show.<p>

Slick moaned listlessly and tried to turn onto his side. Alec quickly knelt beside the younger man and pressed a hand to his brow. He was burning up with fever. Slick was the youngest and smallest of their group and clearly the hardest hit.

"Hey," Alec said gently. "How are you doing?"

Slick let out a derisive huff. "I'm dying. How are you?"

"Pretty much the same," Alec replied. "Although it looks like you're ahead of the game here. You trying to make the rest of us look bad?"

Slick shivered, a hard, teeth-rattling shudder, and Alec desperately wished there was something he could do. They had blankets and enough supplies for several days, but that would be of little comfort to Slick and the others as their bodies fell apart.

The door opened and several men came in wearing full gear that looked a bit like space suits. "I hear you boys ran into a little trouble," one of them said, and Alec realized it was their veterinarian. Dr. Peterson hurried toward Slick and knelt at his side opposite Alec. "We already have a team going over the files you brought."

"A team?"

Peterson smiled, or at least Alec thought he did behind his mask. "You wouldn't believe how many people came as soon as Max put the word out. Apparently, the academics and the lab people have been dying to get their hands on you guys. News of this virus brought in even more." He looked up wide-eyed. "Not in an I'm-going-to-dissect-you sort of way. In a My-aren't-you-fascinating sort of way."

Alec just raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure they have hearts of gold."

Peterson waved to shoo Alec back. "Give me some space to work."

Alec moved to stand, but Slick latched onto his hand with an iron grip. "No." Slick started coughing, wet wracking coughs, but still he wouldn't let go. "Don't… leave."

"Whoa." Alec knelt again beside Slick, a worried look passing between himself and Dr. Peterson. "I'm not going anywhere, Slick. I just gotta give the good doctor here some space."

"No," Slick said again, more forcefully, causing another round of choking coughs.

Alec set his free hand on the younger man's chest and leaned over so that he could make eye contact. "Slick, calm down. See this?" He squeezed his hand. "This is me not going anywhere."

The sight of his friend in such a state made Alec want to scream and rip and tear anything in sight. He was so tired of losing people, not because they'd done anything wrong, but because of the circumstances of their birth. Slick was one of the good guys. He was younger than Alec, probably too young to be on his team, but his skills had been badly needed, and like the rest of them he was far older than his physical age should allow. Like all of them, he'd faced years of pain and anger and mistreatment.

The worst part was that Alec felt personally responsible. The others team members had volunteered, but Alec had recruited Slick. Since then he'd become a friend, and more importantly, he was Alec's conscience and the voice of reason when Max wasn't there to keep him in line.

At the moment, Slick was looking up at Alec like his survival depended on his staying right there with him. Right then, Slick didn't look like a soldier. He looked like a kid, a scared kid, who needed some reassurance from a friend. Max always talked about her unit like they were her brothers and sisters, and for the first time, he thought he really understood what she meant.

With a protective fierceness he barely knew he was capable of with the exception of Max, Alec looked up at Dr. Peterson and dared him again to ask him to move away.

Peterson held his hands up in defeat, and continued his examination, working around Alec.

"It's ok, Slick," Alec said gently. "I'm right here. The vet's here and we're gonna figure this out. You hear me?"

"'kay." Slick fell back against the cot, coughing weakly, although he still held Alec's hand like it was the only thing tethering him to this life. Alec remained where he was, shifting slightly when the doctor needed better access. He rolled up his own sleeve long enough for the doctor to take a blood sample, but paid little attention.

After several minutes, Dr. Peterson stood and he and the other people who'd come all stepped away from their patients to compare notes. It was fairly useless, since they would have to leave the room, possibly the entire floor, to avoid being overheard.

The blood samples were sent ahead to the lab while they spoke, comparing notes and discussing the rates of deterioration, etc., until finally, silence fell. Alec turned toward the group and saw that all eyes were on him.

"What?" he demanded.

"We're wondering why you aren't sick. We know you have the targeted gene sequence."

Alec looked around the room and saw that it was true. The others were all either completely down for the count or fast on their way there. Alec was the only one mobile or even remotely aware.

"How do you feel?" Dr. Peterson asked.

Alec didn't answer flippantly. He quickly ran through his internal checklist and came up with a surprising answer. "Better, actually."

"Better?" One of the other doctors asked. It was very hard to tell them apart in their space suits.

"Several of us were taken away for testing when we were captured. What they did wasn't… pleasant." That was an understatement, but he had a general rule that he didn't have to tell everything he knew. "It's better now."

"Were you directly infected?"

"Most likely," Alec said. "Pope and Slick were, too. If I had to guess, they ran their tests and then gave us the virus to see how it would affect us." He shrugged. "For them, it's a bit like putting an unwanted animal down." He didn't add that they'd probably planned full autopsies once they were dead to see how well the virus had worked.

There was some uncomfortable shifting, but no one commented. Finally, another of the medics cleared his throat. "If his tests come back clean, we should get him to the lab. The others don't have much time if it's taken them down this quickly."

It took a second, but it finally dawned on Alec what they were saying. For once in his miserable life, he appeared to have dodged a bullet. By rights, he should be as sick as the others, maybe sicker since he was directly infected, but instead he was fit for duty. It was such a new and different circumstance to be in, he hardly knew what to do with himself.

"Yes, but how is he any different than the others?" Dr. Peterson asked. "Trust me. With as much trouble as Alec gets into, I've had plenty of opportunity to work on him. There's nothing special about him."

"Hey!" Alec said indignantly.

"Sorry." The vet looked embarrassed, but a twinkle in his eye said not as much as he could have been. "_Medically_ speaking, there's nothing very unusual about him, or any more so than the average Transgenic."

"That's better." Alec sniffed. "I think. It's not like I've got gills or wings or anything."

The eyes of one of the doctors got huge. "Some of you have wings?"

Alec couldn't help it. He was still holding Slick's hand, the others were unconscious, or close to it, and Alec couldn't help laughing. "Sorry, buddy. We have some weird DNA, but we're not magic."

"All right," Dr. Peterson said, calling an end to the interlude, "let's get back to the lab. Michaels, stay here and monitor the patients. Let us know if there's any change."

Michaels, who was the one who'd asked about wings, nodded. "Hopefully, the anti-virals will help, or at least slow things down."

The others nodded and headed toward the door. "Oh." Peterson turned back just before exiting. "Max told me to tell you to call her or she'll hurt you."

"I thought you were supposed to protect your patients," Alec grumbled. "Not throw them to the wolves."

Peterson shook his head. "I know better."

"Everybody's afraid of Max," Alec muttered. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

Peterson laughed. "You've never heard rule number one, have you?"

"Rule number one?"

"Everybody in TC lives by it. Never get between Max and Alec, not if you want to keep all your limbs. Trust me, it works both ways with you two."

Alec shook his head, but inwardly, he felt his heart swell with happiness. He loved being a team with Max. Too often, even at Manticore, maybe especially at Manticore, it had been every man for himself, but now he had Max. He could only pray he would always have Max.

"Are there other rules?"

"Of course," Peterson replied. "But rule number two is never tell Max and Alec about the rules."

"So you're already a screw up," Alec observed.

"I'm just the veterinarian," he deadpanned. "They're more like guidelines for me."

Alec pointed toward the door. "Go fix us," he ordered. "I'll harass you later."

"Call Max," Peterson countered, hurrying out the door.

Once the doctors were gone, Alec glanced around the room, and all levity quickly drained away. A quick look at Slick told him his friend was unconscious now. The others were lying down on their own cots, and the doctor was moving between them changing IVs and checking them, frowning fiercely. Just in the brief time they'd been there, the others had gone downhill.

Alec released Slick's hand, but remained close, sitting down on the floor next to the cot with his back against the wall. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and stared at it. What was he supposed to tell Max? What could he tell her?

Alec jumped when his phone rang. His stomach fell and he knew he'd waited too long. Max wasn't going to thank him for putting her off.

It was like tunnel vision. He stared at the ringing phone and somehow couldn't make himself answer. His team was dying and Max would want answers and he had _nothing_. He'd messed this up, and Max had already been angry with him before he left.

_They would be coming for him now. He'd been in charge of the mission. Half his team was dead, the mark was still alive, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it now. Psy-Ops was probably warming up their laser, setting up a program to _question_ him about what went wrong and make sure it didn't happen again. That's what Manticore was, questions he couldn't answer, at least not to their satisfaction._

"Alec?"

Alec blinked and realized someone was kneeling in front of him. He was talking to him, although none of it made much sense. The voice was muffled, and Alec didn't know if it was his ears or the guy's containment suit. He was taking his blood pressure, his temp, shining a light in his eyes. Alec blinked again, trying to focus.

"What are you doing?"

"What just happened?" the doctor demanded.

Alec groaned, realizing what was going on. "Oh, this is so not good."

"What? Talk to me, Alec."

"It's… Michaels, right?" He was having trouble focusing, even his vision seemed a little fuzzy around the edges. The man nodded, although it was awkward with his suit. "This isn't the virus," Alec explained. "This is something else. Something that's been going on for a while. You… you can't help with this."

"You had-"

"I know," Alec cut him off. "Just… focus on them." He waved toward the others, but even as he did, he realized his phone was ringing.

"You should answer that," Michaels suggested. "You were catatonic for almost twenty minutes. Your phone kept ringing and I answered it. She's not very happy."

Alec let his head fall back against the wall. "You told her I was out of it, didn't you?"

"I told her you were having some sort of… episode. She asked if it was a seizure, but I told her this was different."

"Great. Just great." Alec ran a hand through his hair in frustration. His head was killing him. It felt like his brain was too big for his skull. The constant ringing of his phone wasn't helping.

"Hello?"

Alec winced. Even the doctor talking was painfully loud.

"Yes, he's come out of it, but he still seems disoriented. He says this isn't the virus. He says this is something else that has been happening for a while. Do you know what he's talking about?"

"Stop," Alec said. His voice was ragged and he realized he was breathing like he'd run a race. "She doesn't know. She doesn't need to know." Too late, he realized he was a moron and that Max would hear that last comment. She was going to _kill_ him.

"I just got word that Alec's test came back clean. He doesn't have the virus somehow," Michaels told her. "Meet us at the lab."

Alec closed his eyes. They were going to turn him over to Max. Somehow, he got the feeling the virus would be a gentler way to die.

* * *

><p><em>More soon…<em>


	10. Chapter 10

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

Chapter Ten

* * *

><p>Max paced in front of the door to the lab. She was going to kill him.<p>

_She doesn't know. She doesn't need to know._

First she thinks he's been infected by the virus, then she gets word he seems to be doing better than the others, then the _doctor_ answers Alec's phone and asks Max if Alec has any known medical conditions or allergies they should know about, says that he's catatonic, then after she's nearly frantic with worry and her inability to go to him because of the stupid quarantine, he comes out of it, sort of, and mumbles that it's been going on for a while and _she doesn't need to know_.

The moods, the temper. She'd known something was wrong, but she'd thought it was Alec working through the deprogramming, which forced him to relive his time at Manticore in all of its gory detail. She'd chalked up the occasional standoffishness to the same thing. Because of the programming he'd shot her, and he couldn't forgive himself. Even after the Psy-Ops people had cleared him, he'd been so afraid he might still hurt her.

But there was more to it, and he hadn't _told_ her. He had flat out refused to tell her about _any_ of it. For a guy who talked as much as Alec did, he was impressively closed-mouthed.

Finally, Alec appeared through the tunnel that led straight into Dr. Peterson's building just outside the walls of Terminal City. He was wearing borrowed scrubs and flanked on either side by doctors, both of whom were carefully matching Alec's slow, measured steps.

"Heya, Maxie," Alec drawled.

"How are you feeling?" she asked with what she thought was remarkable restraint.

"Right now? Kinda raw and maybe chemically. They sent me through their carwash and didn't even have the decency to hold my hand."

"I wasn't talking about the decontamination, Alec."

Alec sighed, and finally met her disapproving gaze. Max immediately started forward. She could see there was something horribly wrong. His eyes were almost glazed, like he was there, but not quite.

"You're sure this isn't Cabot's virus?" Max glanced from one to the other of the doctors. She didn't recognize either of them, but then, there were so many lab coats running around right now it was hard to tell.

"We're sure, but we don't know what this is either. He became catatonic again when we began the decontamination. He's just now coming out of it."

Max stopped in front of him and reached up, cradling his face in her hands. "Alec?"

He winced very slightly at the sound of her voice. "Head hurts."

"You been having headaches for a while?" she asked.

"Off and on," he admitted. "Getting worse."

Max sighed. She'd smack him upside the head, but it would only make the problem worse. "Come on. Let's get him to the lab."

"Lab?"

"Dr. Peterson doesn't have everything we need for this. We're going to one of the big labs in town where they can do a full workup on you and figure out why you didn't catch the virus."

"Just lucky." He gave her a lopsided smile.

"The lab is connected to the hospital, so they can do all of the tests they need."

"Sure," Alec replied, but Max could tell something was off about his reply. He'd flinched when she mentioned more tests. Now, the light suddenly left his eyes, and he let out a tiny sound, almost like a wounded animal.

"Alec? Alec, what's going on?" she demanded, but her only answer was her husband's forty yard stare. His muscles were all rigid and she wondered if this was actually a seizure. "Let's get him to the lab."

One of the doctors moved to take Alec, but Max waved the man away. She shifted Alec and put her shoulder against his abdomen, lifting him in a fireman's carry. He let out a pained cry, but she ignored it.

"Do you need help?" the same man asked who'd tried to take Alec.

Max rolled her eyes. She wanted to tell the guy she could probably pick him up too, but she just shook her head and hurried toward the ambulance waiting outside.

* * *

><p>A few minutes before they reached the lab, Alec stirred. Max was sitting on the gurney while he was lying flat with his head in her lap. As he woke, he shifted, stretched, realized he wasn't where he expected to be and went stock still.<p>

"It's ok, Alec."

He immediately relaxed at the sound of her voice. "I fall asleep?" he asked warily.

"Something like that." She tried to keep the disapproval out of her voice, but didn't succeed. "You want to tell me what's going on with you?"

"Been a rough couple of days," he answered. "Could use a vacation."

Max watched as he raised a hand to his head rubbing at his temple. She took pity and ran her fingers through his hair, soothing him the way she knew he liked, rubbing in circles, her nails just skimming over his skin. He sighed contentedly, nearly purring.

Max looked down at him. News of the virus had scared her badly. She'd cursed herself that the last time she'd seen Alec, they'd been yelling at each other. What difference would it make to be breeding partners if he was infected? What difference would it make if he was _dead_?

Her answer had to be, so what if they weren't really breeding partners. So what if the doctors couldn't help them. Looking at Alec now, now that she'd calmed down and some of the shock had passed, now that she knew he wasn't infected, it seemed so much simpler. Alec was alive. They'd just keep going. The two of them. It wasn't settling for less when you had the love of your life.

Granted, that didn't mean she wasn't going to box his ears for keeping her in the dark. When he was better, and he _was_ going to get better, they were going to have a serious talk about quite a few things.

Too soon, they reached the lab. There were people actually waiting at the curb for the ambulance to stop. Almost before she could protest, the door was opened, Alec's gurney was pulled out from under her and he was whisked inside.

Max followed quickly, not about to let him out of her sight now. The people inside must have realized she wasn't going to be deterred, and kept out of her way.

Alec was wheeled into a small room and transferred to a waiting exam table. Max saw that he was still awake, but he was white as a sheet, and wide-eyed, nearly terrified if she had to guess. It was yet another sign of how wrong things were. Alec never showed weakness in front of others. None of them did if they could help it.

"No," Alec said, and the single word came out strangled and desperate.

Max immediately came forward, pushing the medical staff aside. She grasped Alec's hand in hers, and the other she set against his forehead. "Alec, they're here to help you."

"Max?" he said uncertainly.

"It's me, Alec."

"Shouldn't be here." Alec frowned. "Escaped. Shouldn't be here."

It took Max a second, but she was starting to figure out what was setting Alec off. "We're not at Manticore, Alec," she stated firmly. "We both made it out, remember?"

"Not at Manticore." Alec looked at her in confusion, then nodded, visibly trying to pull himself together. "Not at Manticore," he repeated. "We got out. Not Psy-Ops."

"No, Alec. This isn't Psy-Ops."

"What's Psy-Ops?" one of the doctors asked.

Max looked up at the seemingly innocent question. The doctor who'd asked was a pudgy man with glasses and gray hair, in his late fifties. She met the man's gaze and simply said, "You don't want to know."

"If it's part of what's causing this, then yes, we need to know."

"Just run your tests," Max ordered. "If this has something to do with Psy-Ops then Alec is right. You can't help us."

The doctor bristled, stepping in front of her and puffing up to use his superior height, despite the fact that Max could take him down in about two seconds flat. "You are not qualified to tell us what _is_ and what is _not_ important."

Max blinked and the doctor was on the floor, bleeding, with Alec standing over him, his hands still fisted and ready to fight.

"Call security!" the man shouted. "Restrain him!"

The reaction was almost immediate. Alec grabbed Max's hand and began pulling her toward the door. "We have to get out of here!"

"Nobody move!" Max bellowed and all of the medical staff came to a screeching halt. Alec, too, froze. He looked at her and she could tell, he wasn't actually seeing the same room she was. He was back at Manticore, although now he was desperate to defend her as well as keep himself safe.

"Max?" he asked uncertainly.

"Alec, you have to let them do the tests."

"What?" The word was barely a whisper, and the look of betrayal on his face was enough to break her heart. There was so much more riding on the tests, however, and she couldn't cave. The team that was sick, the danger to the rest of them… No matter how wrong it felt, it had to be done.

"You _will_ let them do the tests, Alec," she said, despite how much it hurt to say the words.

"Tests," he murmured. "Always tests. Laser. Psy-Ops. Never free. Never."

Max pushed him back toward the exam table. "Go ahead and take off your shirt, Alec. Pants, too." She expected a quip, some sort of comeback, but there was none of that.

"Yes, ma'am."

Max felt like she'd been sucker-punched. Did he actually think she was Renfro ordering him to report for testing? "Alec?"

Alec paused in untying the drawstring on his scrub pants. "Ma'am?" He raised a hand to his head, his face screwed up in pain. He saw her looking and immediately dropped his hand, fear and pain quickly hidden behind his old Manticore mask. "Sorry, Ma'am. Won't happen again," he apologized and continued to undress. He pulled his shirt off over his head and let it drop to the floor.

Everyone in the room gasped. Alec was a mass of bruises. She could hardly imagine what kind of tests they'd been doing that would cause this kind of damage. There were bruises, small incisions, and puncture marks on his arms, his abdomen, as well as his upper chest. They all looked several days old now, ugly and turning sickly yellow and green. She remembered now the sound Alec had made when she'd thrown him over her shoulder. She'd had no idea how badly she must have been hurting him.

"Alec, are the others all like this too?"

"Negative. Only 662 and 481. They were taken for testing first, ma'am." Max shook her head in disbelief. She never would have thought there were that many doctors on the planet who were so willing to harm other human beings. Yet, time and time again, Manticore and the Familiars produced another who was willing to rip them apart just to see how they ticked.

"Get up on the exam table."

"Ma'am," he said formally, although he wobbled as he turned to do as she asked. She helped steady him as he moved. Once he was lying down, she dared to look at his face again. Even as she watched, the light left his eyes. The Alec she knew, the man she _loved_, was gone, lost in his own head.

"Son of a-" There was no way she was going to spend a minute longer than necessary of Alec thinking she was Renfro. She looked at the other people in the room, still frozen in disbelief. "I suggest you get to work," she snapped. "Restraining one of us is very difficult. I'd do what you need to do while he's out."

The others seemed to agree and hurried to comply. One of them, not the doctor Alec punched she noticed, rushed to the side opposite her, and turned Alec's arm over. "They've poked him so full of holes, we'll be lucky to find a vein," he observed.

"I thought you took blood already." Alec was already pale and the puncture marks had her thinking he'd already lost too much.

"Enough to test for the virus. We're going to need more to do a full work up. We don't know what we're looking for."

Max nodded and the man gathered his supplies. He began filling vials of blood, while others took hair samples and skin samples and whatever else they needed. Something about Alec had given him immunity and they needed to know what it was, fast.

It took longer than Max would like. She hated seeing Alec on the table, so vulnerable. Her instinct was to cover him up, to comfort him, to keep him from further harm. Instead, she was letting yet another group of people use him as an experiment, when he'd clearly been badly used already.

Finally, the samples were all labeled and taken away for immediate testing. That done, the doctor Alec clocked turned to her and said, "We're going to transfer him over to the hospital. He needs to be properly checked. The headaches as well as the altered mental state are troubling."

"Tell me something I don't know." Max pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed TC.

"_What_?"

Max ignored that Mole's phone etiquette was getting even worse as time went on. "Get Tipper. Send her to the hospital."

"_Got it_," Mole replied and started shouting to someone who was unlucky enough to be standing near him in Command.

When he finally wound down, she asked, "How is Alec's team?"

"_Worse. Tell the eggheads to hurry_." She heard him take his cigar out of his mouth. "_What do you need with Tipper_?"

"I have a theory and I need to run it by her." Tipper was the head of the ex Psy-Ops crew living in TC. They weren't overly popular with the others and tended to keep to themselves for obvious reasons. "Tell her to bring Cabot with her, too."

"_You_ _sure that's a good idea? The eggheads say he's been totally useless. He won't help at all_."

"Bring him anyway. I need to know what he did to Alec."

"_I'll send him. You should also know that Ingram guy called._"

Great. Just what she needed. To deal with the Familiars and their crap. "What did he want?"

"_He's_ _pissed that Cabot's not dead."_ He paused momentarily. "_Pissed might not be the right word. Put pissed and crazy together. He says we were told to eliminate the threat_."

"Well, he can just suck it up. I need to know what he did to Alec." She sighed. "Anything else?"

"_Just_ _one thing. You been outside_?"

"What?"

"_We've been getting calls from the press_."

Max wanted to bang her head against the wall. The day just got better and better. "What do they want?"

"_They say there's a rumor going around Transgenics are carrying a virus and it's going to spread to humans and everyone's going to die._"

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

"_Why's everybody always asking me that? No, I ain't kiddin'. And if I were you, I wouldn't go outside the hospital either. Someone already spilled that you guys were there and there's a crowd forming_."

Max's heart clenched painfully. He'd said a crowd, but what he meant was a mob. It wouldn't be the first time she been in a building with a group of Ordinaries outside waiting to tear her apart. For a moment, she felt the panic of being rushed by the mob and having the team pulled away who'd been there to protect her. She remembered them dying, giving their own lives to save her. She was quickly distracted, however, when a gurney arrived and they surrounded Alec to transfer him.

"Ok, I gotta go. They're moving Alec to the main hospital."

"_Don't let Princess do anything stupid_," Mole said. "_He still owes me money_." It was as close as he could come to telling them to be careful, and that he was worried about them.

Max closed her phone and followed Alec out of the room.

* * *

><p>Once they arrived at the hospital, Alec was taken away and Max was pointed toward a waiting room. She didn't like it, but she allowed it. It also gave her a chance to watch the news on the TV in the waiting room.<p>

Mole hadn't been kidding about the crowd. The police had already set up a cordon to keep the people back. No one was being allowed into the hospital except through the ER which had extra security verifying that you needed to be let in before you actually were. Visiting hours had been cancelled.

Reporters were on the scene asking questions that were both useless and asinine. That footage was currently alternating with reporters interviewing members of the gathering lynch mob.

"_They need to go. They're gonna kill us all_."

"_They should never have been allowed to stay here in the first place and now we're all gonna die_."

"_We've always known they were freaks, and now they've got some freaky disease and we're all gonna pay_.

"_If they won't leave, we should make 'em leave_."

"_They're dangerous. The government shoulda put 'em all down in the first place, and now it's too late_."

Max wasn't sure how long she sat there watching every bit of the good will the city had felt toward the Transgenics being washed down the toilet. It just went on and on. The worst part was that she needed Alec to fix this. He was their resident PR specialist. Alec was the one who talked to the press. He was the one who convinced the city to give them a chance.

And now they were the monsters again.

The door to the waiting room opened and Dr. Peterson came in. "How are you, Max?"

"Fine. Any news on Alec?"

"Why don't you come and see," he said kindly. "I know how dangerous it is to keep you two apart."

Max practically leapt out of her chair. She followed the doctor down the hall and into one of the private hospital rooms. Looking past it she saw that Fred and Barney were stationed down on one end of the corridor, and if she had to guess there were other guards as well. Mole must have sent them after the news about the impending plague broke.

Inside the room, Alec was lying in the bed, attached to an IV and a heart monitor, but that was the only medical equipment she could see. The doctor Alec hit was actually removing the IV as they entered.

The doctor looked up and Max saw that his mouth was bruised and his lip was split. She had a hard time feeling sorry for him. Insulting people who were a lot stronger than you, or their wives, wasn't his best idea, especially when they were too sick to keep their instincts in check.

Max hurried to the side opposite the doctor and looked down at Alec. He appeared to still be asleep, so she leaned down and placed a kiss against his cheek. "It's safe to wake up now, Alec. The tests are over. I promise."

"Max?" The whispered response was almost immediate, although she didn't know if it was because of what she'd said, or if it was just the sound of her voice.

"I'm right here." She took his hand and squeezed it. "You're ok."

Alec just nodded, so Max turned toward the doctors. "So what's the deal?"

Dr. Peterson smiled kindly. "Actually, Dr. Clifton and I have two things, one good, one… we're not sure."

"Give me the bad news first." Might as well get it over with, she thought. Today was already a lost cause.

"Not bad," Peterson corrected. "We just need more info. We've done quite a few tests on Alec, and as far as we can tell there's nothing physically wrong with him. He's badly bruised, but they're already fading, and there's no interior damage that we can see. The only thing…"

"Yes?"

The other doctor stepped closer. "His scan is showing that a particular part of his brain is overactive and we don't know why. Honestly, it could be normal for one of you. We don't have any baseline to compare it with. Dr. Peterson assures us some other issues we thought might be a problem are the norm. We've also contacted a Dr. Shankar and she concurred. The blackout episodes may, however, be linked to this brain activity. We're still looking into it."

"What's the good news then?"

The door opened and everyone turned to see Tipper waiting on the other side. She had Cabot with her and Fred was sticking close as a bodyguard.

"Get in here, Tipper," she ordered.

The ex-Psy-Ops worker frowned. "Nice to see you, too, Max."

Alec on the other hand had an entirely different reaction. As soon as he saw the group entering, he scrambled off the bed in a panic and backed into the corner farthest from them. Everyone froze in shock, all except Max.

"Whoa, whoa." Max flew to his side, and placed herself between them so Alec's view was blocked. "Alec, look at me." Her voice was soft, but it was firm. It took a few seconds, but he finally looked at her. "Alec, it's ok. You're safe."

"I can't go back," he whispered. "Please, Max. I can't do it again." He grabbed his head as if in agony and began to slip down the wall into a crouch. "I can't," he said again. "Can't. No more." And just like flipping a switch, he was gone again. The lights were on but there was nobody home.

Furious, Max stood and turned toward the other people in the room who were watching the scene unfold, stunned. She glared at the man standing between Fred and Tipper. "You're Cabot?"

The man nodded nervously. He glanced toward Alec, then quickly away, realizing that was not in his best interests.

"What did you do to him?"

"If you're talking about the catatonia, that is not my fault," the man blurted out. "He was taken to our exam room and had an episode very like this one, although without the… hysterics. I hadn't even done anything, just walked into the room. He looked like his head hurt, and then he had a seizure-like episode."

"I've seen the bruising," Max growled.

"Tests," he said, as if it wasn't anything special. "We needed to judge the efficacy of the virus, as well as learn more about your general make-up. We did a complete battery of tests and took samples from all the major organs."

The door behind them opened again. Their little room was getting awfully crowded between doctors, transgenics, and sociopaths. They all turned. Only it wasn't another doctor.

Ingram walked through the door, raised his gun, fired two rounds, one to Cabot's head, the other to his heart. Cabot fell to the floor, and Ingram was out of the room just as quickly as he had entered.

Fred flew after him. Max didn't know if she cared whether they found him or not. She turned back toward the corner where Alec was still crouched, staring at nothing.

Another dead Familiar wouldn't help her with Alec.

* * *

><p><em>More soon…<em>


	11. Chapter 11

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

Chapter 11

* * *

><p>Both doctors knelt at Cabot's side, but clearly there was nothing they could do. A bullet to the brain had a way of being pretty final.<p>

"We should call the police," Peterson said, still stunned and staring at the dead man.

Max took pity on him. Medical emergencies were one thing, but murder scenes weren't exactly what he'd signed up for when he went to vet school. Dr. Clifton didn't look much better.

"Dr. Clifton, have someone call the police. Dr. Peterson, we need to get Alec out of here. This," she pointed at the body, "isn't helping him. Go find an empty room where we can take him."

Both men hurried to obey. Max knelt down in front of Alec. She waved her hand in front of his face. He blinked several times, but she could tell he wasn't really there. "Alec, please," she said quietly. "It's Max. I need you to come back. I need you here. I promise you no one will hurt you." She leaned forward and put her arms around him. Alec was tense, but nevertheless he came to her easily. He leaned forward, and rested his head against her chest.

"Max?"

"I'm here, Alec."

"I really, really hate being crazy." He laughed and it was a painful, heartbreaking sound.

"You're not crazy."

"Max, I'm having flashbacks, blackouts and I keep freaking out. On what planet is that not crazy?"

She ran her hand through his hair trying to soothe him, although it was for her as much as him. Alec wasn't crazy. He wasn't Ben and he wasn't crazy. She would repeat it as many times as she needed to make herself believe it. It wasn't possible, especially since Ben had spent years in a slow downward spiral. Alec wasn't Ben. He was as grounded as it was possible for one of them to be. This was something else. Which was why Tipper was here.

Dr. Peterson rushed back into the room a little out of breath. "Ok, Max. I've got another room. Hospital security is on the way to secure this one until the police get here."

"Ok, Alec. Up."

Alec shuddered, but pushed away from her. "Yes, ma'am."

Max grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. "Alec, stay with me. None of that 'ma'am' crap."

He closed his eyes. "Right. Sorry."

"Do you know where you are?"

"Not… not really." He set one of his hands against his head, clutching a handful of hair. "S'like a dream. But it's real. It happened. Keeps happening."

She could tell he was fading out again. Max grabbed him and hauled him up by brute strength. She turned. "Lead the way, Doc. You," she pointed at Tipper, "come with us."

Max followed Dr. Peterson out of the room. The guards were no longer at the end of the hall. They were right outside the room and they moved with them as soon as she and Alec exited. The room they went to was just down the corridor and once they were inside, the guards once again posted themselves at the door. She was going to have a definite chat with them for letting Ingram get past. Familiars were fast, ruthless and sneaky. That might get them past the police outside or the medical staff, but that was no excuse for Transgenic guards.

Max guided Alec toward the bed and helped him sit on it. When he saw Tipper, Alec startled, but Max once again placed her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look only at her. "You're not crazy. Just stay with me and we'll fix this, ok?"

"Ok," he said calmly, although his eyes told her just how terrified and out of control he was feeling. "But if this doesn't work, make sure you get me into a nice nuthouse. I don't want one of the dirty, overcrowded ones. I know they're cheaper, but only the best for me, even if I don't have a clue what's going on anymore."

Max leaned in and kissed him, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. "Moron," she said gently.

"Better than crazy, I guess."

Max had had enough of the crazy talk. "Tipper?"

"Here." The young woman stepped closer, although she was very careful not to startle Alec again.

"I need you to take a look at Alec."

"What am I looking for?"

"He's having flashbacks."

"Ever since the second deprogramming session," Alec offered. "It's like I'm there again. Psy-Ops, Manticore. All of it. Like I'm living it again."

"What?" Tipper looked horrified.

"Just take a look," Max said again.

Tipper pushed Max back from Alec and stood in front of him. Alec's breathing became very rapid, but he visibly held himself in check. "Alec, I'm going to hold your hands, all right?"

"Ok," he said, but his voice was weaker, and his eyes had started to glaze over.

"He's zoning out again," Max warned.

"That's all right," Tipper said. "It'll let me know what's going on."

Tipper grabbed Alec's hands and held them in her own, then set her forehead against Alec's. It looked too intimate, almost like they were about to kiss and Max's first instinct was to smack her and tell her to get away from her husband, but she refrained.

After only a few seconds, Tipper gasped and pulled away from Alec. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"What?"

Tipper ignored her. She grasped Alec's hands again, staring intently at him and a second later, Alec slumped over, completely unconscious.

"What did you do?" Max demanded.

"I put him under," Tipper replied as she and Max moved him so he could lie comfortably on the bed. "Trust me. It's better for him."

"What's going on?"

Tipper ignored her again and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed and put it to her ear. Max could hear the plastic cracking she was holding it so tightly. When someone answered, Tipper nearly shouted into the phone, "Get Midge."

"Who's Midge?"

"One of our people. She's young, but talented, very talented. That's why we put her on the deprogramming team."

"But?"

"But she's screwed your husband up so bad, it's a wonder he didn't blow his own brains out."

Max's heart dropped. "_What_?"

"Don't worry," Tipper snapped. "I'm gonna kill her for you."

Someone came on the phone and they all waited. "Midge, what did you do to Alec?"

"_What do you mean_?" the girl asked, sounding genuinely confused. Since this directly affected her, Max had no problem eavesdropping.

"I mean Alec's head is so messed up I don't even know where to start. I put you on the team so you could help, not so you could drive him insane."

"He's not insane," Max said through gritted teeth.

"Not yet," Tipper shot back. "You know what? I'm gonna take this outside. I need someplace I can yell at her properly." Without asking if it was ok, she stalked out of the room.

Max stepped closer to Alec's side and ran her fingers through his hair. He looked so tired. His eyes were deeply sunken and his skin was still too pale and drawn. "Dr. Peterson?" she said, and the man responded to her unasked plea. He hurried to Alec's side for a quick inspection.

"He's fine, Max. Just sleeping," he said after several minutes. "In fact his vitals are better. He was clearly under severe stress before. Whatever Tipper did, he's actually resting now."

Max nodded, knowing that would have to do for now. At least he wasn't hurting anymore.

She turned toward the vet. "So… you gave me the bad news. What's the good news?"

"Oh." The man let out a laugh as if he'd completely forgotten. "We figured out why Alec is immune."

Max's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected that part to be what they figured out so quickly. "What is it?"

"You."

"Me?"

"It was very simple really. Dr. Clifton's people took a look at Alec's blood and his cells have actually blocked the site where the virus should attach itself. After that, your systems are so ramped up, it takes out the virus very, very quickly."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"When they showed it to me, I realized I'd actually seen it before. I'd seen the same thing in _your_ blood. You were infected with the virus by the cult, Max, and your… maker," he paused unhappily over the word, "made sure that you were immune. Your body actually produces a chemical that blocks the site the virus would attach to."

"And I passed that to Alec somehow?"

"We're almost certain of it."

"Why only Alec?"

"Our guess is it requires a bit more than just a touch." Dr. Peterson gave her a look that was a bit like a twelve year old boy who'd just discovered that girls have boobs.

"Sex," she said plainly, although she had no doubt she was blushing as red as rose. Her face felt so hot it was almost painful.

"Any fluid exchange. Saliva, blood, sex. In your case, you and Alec have shared all three."

"So what does that mean for the others?"

"Let me get Dr. Clifton. This is really his area of expertise." He stuck his head out into the hallway and gave a low whistle. The other doctor must have been close by because he appeared fairly quickly.

"Have you told her?" he asked.

"I thought you should be here," Peterson answered. "I told her that she's what fixed Alec. She wants to know what we can do for the team that's infected."

Dr. Clifton stepped closer to address her. "In their case, we need a very quick fix. We're going to ask you to donate some blood and we're going to give it to them. Transgenic cells are so adaptable. They _learn_," he said, almost in awe. "In the case of the infected patients, it should keep the infection from spreading and we've already got them on massive amounts of anti-viral medication. They're in bad shape, but, hopefully, along with their normal and very impressive immune systems, it will be enough."

"That's not the best part, Max," Dr. Peterson said giddily.

"What?"

"We think we can synthesize this. We can prepare inoculations for everyone."

"But if we've stopped the virus-"

The man shook his head. "I'm getting ahead of myself. You see, this virus's DNA is nearly identical to the one the Familiar's are so afraid of. It's what your body is actually immune to. Your system is winning against this virus because it's so similar." Dr. Peterson began pacing back and forth he was so excited. "We can synthesize it, and give it to the population at large, Max. It'll be like the polio vaccine. No one will ever have to worry again. The Familiars will be out of business."

Max just nodded, already rolling up her sleeve. She was happy to be able to save the world and stick it to the Familiars, but at the moment, she just wanted to help the others who were infected.

Dr. Clifton did the honors and one of the guards was immediately sent with their precious cargo back to TC where the doctors there would administer it. After that Dr. Clifton took more blood, an entire pint so that they could begin the more serious work on the virus.

"We may need more," he warned, "but we'll start with this."

"Whatever you need," Max replied. She was tired of sitting in hospitals, but she would do it if it would help. It would be better though, if Alec was able to talk to her.

"We've arranged for a news conference in a few hours. We've already been working from samples Dr. Peterson had on file, but this will help us make sure. Once we are, we'll make an announcement about the virus that made Alec's team sick. It should help with the panic."

"And what about the other virus?"

"We're not sure yet, but we think we can actually introduce it into the water supply. Since it also spreads person to person, it will work very quickly. At the very least, we can have every major city inoculated very quickly."

"How can you promise that?" Max asked. "There's no way you can do that. It would take millions of dollars."

Dr. Clifton raised an eyebrow. "You don't know who I am, do you?"

"No. Should I?"

"I'm in charge of the Centers for Disease Control."

Dr. Peterson laughed and waved toward Alec. "Your husband punched the head of the CDC, Max."

"He was never good with authority figures," she deadpanned.

"In any case," Clifton cut back in, "that is how I can promise mass inoculations. It is not widely known, but due to conditions since the Pulse, we have been forced to such measures several times. The samples we have are already being worked on. What you've given us will also help. Perhaps… in future…"

"If you're about to ask a single Transgenic to submit to more testing to help cure the world and make it all puppies and rainbows I will personally break you in half." Max's voice was tight, an unmistakable warning. They were not available as guinea pigs. Not anymore.

"You want to know what experimentation has done for us?" she bit out. Max pointed toward Alec. "That's what it's done. You saw all the bruising and you still have no idea how much he's been through. That was nothing compared to some of the things he's faced. He's holding on by a thread. Sometimes… we all are."

Dr. Clifton looked halfway between contrite and annoyed. Dr. Peterson just looked embarrassed that the man had even asked. He knew more than most some of the things they'd been through.

The very idea made Max so angry that despite the help the doctors were giving them, she suddenly didn't want to look at them anymore. "Go away. I'm staying with Alec and Alec needs quiet."

It wasn't a suggestion and the two doctors quickly left. Max had a feeling that Dr. Peterson would be filling the good Dr. Clifton in on what a bad mistake he'd made if he was trying to gain their help. The veterinarian had learned to tiptoe carefully through the minefield of dealing with Transgenics and their issues.

Max walked back to the bed and hopped up beside Alec. She stretched out beside him and pulled up the blanket that was folded at the foot of the bed. She spread it out over them both and then snuggled up beside him. She wrapped one arm across his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. For a moment at least, she could pretend that everything was all right and that she and Alec were home.

Max closed her eyes and slept.

* * *

><p>Max woke at the sound of the door opening. Tipper walked into the room, and almost as soon as their eyes met, Max could feel sleep stealing over her again.<p>

"Sleep, Max," she heard her whisper. "Sleep."

Max knew it was a compulsion. The freaking Psy-Ops people got what they wanted whether anybody else liked it or not.

"Sleep."

* * *

><p>Max awoke with a start and knew that it was because Tipper had lifted her silent order to remain unconscious. Her eyes snapped open and she looked across Alec to find Tipper sitting in a chair beside Alec. She was holding Alec's free hand and from the look on her face, concentrating fiercely.<p>

"Don't move, Max," Tipper said through gritted teeth. "I couldn't hold you both and I'm not done with Alec."

Max did as she was asked. Tipper looked exhausted. She was shaking slightly, her eyes were red from burst blood vessels, and with the hand not clutching Alec's she held a cloth to her bleeding nose. Max looked past Tipper to the clock and saw that nearly four hours had passed.

Max remained very still while Tipper worked. There was no sign that anything was happening other than the deep frown on Alec's brow and every so often he would twitch in his sleep, as if troubled.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, when Max was ready to scream with impatience, Tipper suddenly dropped Alec's hand and sagged back against her chair. As if on cue, Alec's frown disappeared and his eyes opened.

Max pushed herself up on one elbow so she could look down at him. "Alec?"

"It's gone," he said, almost in awe.

"What is?"

"The pain." He let out an almost hysterical laugh. "It's been there so long I forgot what it was like without it."

"Your headache?" Tipper asked and Alec nodded.

Max ran her hand through Alec's hair in a soothing figure eight pattern. "It's completely gone?"

"Yes." Alec closed his eyes, and Max was shocked to see tears escape, tears of relief, of release from pain that had apparently been plaguing him since the deprogramming sessions.

"Midge thought she was helping," Tipper explained. "She tied the unpleasant memories of your time in Psy-Ops and at Manticore to the trigger mechanism as an added deterrent to obey. The problem is that our time at Manticore, especially the most painful memories are so deeply a part of who we are that by doing that she effectively made them all active, constantly recurring memories. You literally couldn't shove them to the back of your mind because they were tethered to your waking mind and all your decision making. As it got progressively worse, and you were put through new experiences that were much like the old ones, your mind started to shut down. It was crossing memory and reality and your mind couldn't decide which was which and started to shut down to protect itself." Tipper reached out and touched Alec's hand again. "I wish you had told us earlier," she chided gently. "I could have helped you sooner."

"I just thought it was a side effect of the deprogramming," Alec murmured tiredly. "I thought it couldn't be helped. Was the price I had to pay to keep everyone safe."

"Idiot." Max leaned down and kissed him affectionately.

Alec smiled. "Pretty much. But look on the upside," he added. "At least I'm not crazy." He said it lightly, but Max could tell how afraid he'd been of just that. Alec turned toward Tipper. "Thank you."

"Not a problem," she replied, although clearly it had been. Her nose had stopped bleeding, but she looked like she needed a serious vacation. Clearly undoing what Midge had done had taken everything she had. "And don't worry about Midge. We had a very serious conversation about her methods. We're also going to have to go through everyone else Midge worked on to see if they're having similar issues."

"You think you're ok to get out of here?" Max asked him.

"Sure." Alec began to push back the blanket covering them both. "My team?"

It was Tipper who answered. "They're better. Dr. Peterson came to tell you, but I asked him to leave you alone."

Alec sighed, and looked like another weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "I miss anything else while I was doing an impression of a turnip?"

"They figured out why you're immune," Max offered. "Oh, and Cabot's dead."

Alec shrugged. "That's too bad. I'm heartbroken."

There was a knock at the door, which was already opening to admit Fred and Barney. "Ok, good news and bad news," Fred said, sounding pressed for time.

"Just tell us.

"The good news is the police only need a quick statement about the shooting and they'll release you guys."

"And the bad news?"

"The mob outside is getting ready to rush the hospital."

* * *

><p><em>I'll get the last chapter posted as soon as I can get it typed up and smoothed out…<em>


	12. Chapter 12

**Leash Laws**

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

_Allright then. I'm afraid y'all are bored out of your gourds by now, so let's get this puppy done…_

Chapter Twelve

* * *

><p>"Mob? What mob?" Alec looked to her in confusion and Max hurried to explain.<p>

"A rumor started going around that Transgenics are infected with a virus that will kill everyone. Then word got out that we were here." She waved vaguely toward the outside of the building. "The crowd's been getting bigger ever since."

Alec's eyes widened in alarm. "We have to leave." He scooted to the side of the bed and Max rushed around to help him.

"Take it easy," she ordered.

"Max, a mob is about to overrun the hospital." He stood and wobbled slightly. "We need to leave and it needs to be very public so they'll follow us away from here."

Max's heart immediately started beating a mile a minute and the blood was rushing loudly in her ears. Alec wanted to leave the hospital. He wanted to go out into the crowd. It would cause a riot.

"We can't go out there." She knew she sounded panicked and she had no way of controlling it. She _was_ panicked. Bingo, Polo, and Yankee were all dead because they'd been pushed out into a mob just like the one outside the hospital. She could still feel the hands on her snatching at her clothes, trying to rip her limb from limb, beating her, tearing her hair out, with no way of escape until the others had surrounded her and given their lives so she could get away.

Alec was immediately in front of her. "Whoa, Max. That's not what I'm talking about," he said, instinctively understanding what was going on with her. He knew that she still got nervous in big crowds, and went out of his way to keep her out of situations that might set her off. "We're gonna get the sector police to give us a very, very public escort back to TC. They threw you to the wolves last time and caused the riot. They owe you."

Max focused on slowing her ragged breathing. "I don't think the cops really care about a do-over."

"Sure they do, Maxie. They're closet Freak supporters. They love us."

She put her hands on her hips. "Have you lost your mind?"

Alec smirked and she realized he was purposely being ridiculous to distract her. He was very good at it, and if she wasn't so annoyed, she'd kiss him for it.

"Has Clifton already held his press conference?" she asked instead.

"Not yet," Fred replied. "They were just getting ready a few minutes ago, when the mob outside got even crazier."

"Get them," Max ordered. "And get us an escort. We're all going to TC and we'll hold the press conference there. We can give our statements about the shooting there, too."

"Done." Fred turned and he and Barney left the room at a run.

Max realized the situation must be quickly deteriorating to have them hustling like that. "You ready to go home?" she asked Alec.

"Always."

* * *

><p>The crowd wasn't just pressing on the fence around Terminal City. They were clamoring to get in. They were screaming their threats, vowing destruction, promising vengeance for the plague the Transgenics had brought down on them. The sector police were standing just outside the city trying to keep the crowds at bay while Transgenic guards watched from inside the fence making sure no one broke through the line and got into the city.<p>

As had become their habit, one camera crew had been allowed into the city with the understanding that their footage would be shared with the other stations or that particular reporter's channel and crew would never be spoken to again by a Transgenic.

Three chairs were sitting side by side opposite the reporter, who was fussing with her perfectly coiffed blonde hair and if Max wasn't mistaken, shooting glances at Alec that said she had more than just a reporter's interest. She was beautiful and Max might have even been slightly threatened if Alec's fingers hadn't chosen that moment to intertwine with hers.

"Hello, Diana. How are you?"

The woman looked very pleased that Alec knew her name, practically preening. "I'm fine. Thank you so much for asking us to come."

Alec held out his hand to the woman, but apparently word of the impending plague put a slight damper on how much she actually wanted to touch him, despite her longing looks.

"Don't worry," Alec smiled, and Max knew this entire performance was for the cameras which were definitely already rolling. "I promise there's absolutely nothing for you to catch. That's why we invited you in."

The woman hesitated for a second longer, but Alec kept his hand out-held, refusing to let her off the hook. Finally, she relented and gave him her hand. He raised it to his lips and placed a very polite peck on the back. He winked for good measure. "Now stop trying to get me in trouble with my wife, Diana. We came here for business."

Diana smiled at him, her eyes shifting a bit nervously toward Max. Her smile faded a bit when she realized there was actually a third person in the room who was taking a seat beside Max and Alec.

"Dr. Clifton?" she said in surprise.

"Yes," he replied simply.

"We heard a rumor that the CDC was looking into this incident," the reporter said.

"It is not a rumor," the doctor replied. "The Transgenics contacted us about a particular threat and we gladly responded."

The reporter straightened in her chair, apparently deciding it was high time their interview became more formal.

"All right, we're speaking with Max and Alec, who are representing the Transgenics and Dr. John Clifton, head of the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Clifton, can you tell us why you're here?"

"I was contacted because several of the Transgenics were purposely infected with a virus by a man, a human," he emphasized. "This doctor was a virologist. He created a virus that was made to target anyone with an extremely rare gene sequence, perhaps one or two people in a million in the general population. Almost all of the Transgenics, however, have this gene sequence. This virus is deadly and once the Transgenics were infected, we at the CDC were immediately contacted for assistance. The infected patients were already quarantined when we arrived and we have been working diligently to help them."

"You're saying this virus will not harm anyone in the general public?" the woman asked.

"The odds are extremely, extremely low to begin with and the only infected patients have already been quarantined, mostly for the sake of the rest of the population of Terminal City," Dr. Clifton clarified. "This virus is no garden variety virus. It is not one already found in the population and has no effect except on those with this particular gene sequence. This was a targeted assault."

"This doctor intended to kill us all," Max stated plainly. "He knew the general population would remain unharmed. We were the ones who would die."

"Who is this doctor?" the reporter asked.

"His name is Cabot. His license was revoked several years ago," Dr Clifton offered, "but he was working for an unregulated lab outside the militarized zones."

"Unregulated?"

"The lab was performing human experiments as well as developing the equivalent of a biological warfare program. This virus was very purposely weaponized."

"And where is this doctor now?"

"The lab has been shut down, and all of the employees are in federal custody."

Max glanced at the doctor, impressed with how easily he had side-stepped Cabot's murder. She was also grateful for his willingness to keep it quiet in the first place. The public didn't know about the cult and it would only muddy the waters. The people were already on edge and ready to string the Transgenics up.

"The CDC will be very carefully dealing with samples remaining on site," Clifton continued, "and decontaminating the site as well. The substances are deadly and must be disposed of appropriately. We will be conducting an extensive investigation into this incident as well as anyone who assisted these people. Federal law enforcement will, of course, be assisting us with this investigation."

To be honest, Max was as interested to hear the details as the news crew was. They had immediately informed their contacts in the Homeland Security Office as soon as Alec's team cleared the building. Apparently, they'd sent the troops in to clean house.

"Have there been any deaths?" the reporter asked.

Max wanted to smack the woman. She looked almost hopeful. Deaths made for a better story.

"No. We currently have five infected patients who are receiving treatment. They are responding as well as can be expected and we hope will make full recoveries."

"What about the rest of the Transgenics? Will it be safe for them?"

"Luckily, we were able to quickly ascertain how this virus was spreading and a mechanism by which it could be stopped. Although the virus is contained, a nearby CDC laboratory is preparing inoculations that will be given to the rest of the population to protect them. Now," Dr. Clifton stood, "if you will forgive me, my colleagues and I have a great deal of work to do."

The man left and the reporter turned her full attention on Max and Alec. She looked expectant and Max wished she knew what to say, but honestly she was never very good in front of the cameras.

Alec squeezed her hand and glanced at her, and finally, for the first time in what felt like forever, it was there, that connection between them, that unspoken feeling that they were in this together and they would get through it together. His eyes and the tiny quirk of his lips told her so.

"Our main concern," Alec said, turning back to the reporter and the cameras, "is that the people of Seattle know they are absolutely safe. This virus was not introduced into the public, although even if it had it would be a non-entity. For us, however, five of our people were caught specifically to be used to see if the virus would kill them. The doctor was hoping to infect the rest of us, but these five actually quarantined themselves before that could happen. They knew they were dying and they still protected us, and they protected the people of Seattle."

Alec was impassioned. He was earnest. The camera loved him. _She_ loved him for selflessly leaving out how much he had suffered as well. She hoped that every single person in Seattle was watching this and deciding that maybe tearing down the fence and killing the Transgenics was a bad idea. They'd set up screens outside and even now she could tell that the sounds of the crowd outside had started to dwindle.

"I could say something about the mob outside," Alec said, sadness sneaking into his tone, "or I could talk about the death threats, or all of the newscasts calling for us to be _dealt_ with appropriately, but I don't want to." He shook his head and looked down, troubled. "I have five very sick friends, five friends who were targeted, not because of anything they'd done, but because of who and what they are. They are all I care about right now."

"They're getting better?" the reporter asked worriedly, and Max knew that Alec had them. He had them eating out of the palm of his hand. It would take time, but once the reporters were on board, they would spin it their way. They wouldn't want to kill Transgenics anymore. The people would want to comfort them, and punish those who'd hurt them.

Max knew how the woman felt. Max hated to see Alec hurting above all else. Alec was beautiful, inside and out, and should never be in pain. These were his closest friends, his handpicked team. She grasped Alec's hand and pulled it closer to her chest, wanting to reassure him, and it wasn't just for the camera's sake.

"Yes, they're getting better," Max said. "It was very, very close, but they're getting better." Alec gave her a tired, grateful smile, urging her to go on. "We're asking the people gathered outside Terminal City to return to their homes. You're safe. We just want to be safe, too."

* * *

><p>Max opened the door to their apartment and led Alec inside by the hand. His eyes were half-closed and his feet were dragging, but Max matched Alec's shuffling pace as they entered. He stopped momentarily and looked around the room as if he hadn't seen the place in months and it struck Max that maybe he hadn't. If he'd been in constant pain, facing flashbacks that had progressively gotten worse, then she wondered how well he'd actually been functioning and how much he'd been hiding. Now that she thought of it, she remembered little moments when he'd zoned out. She'd been angry at the time, assuming he was ignoring her. He was too well trained at hiding things, and she'd been too ticked to pay attention.<p>

Abruptly, Alec grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. They stood in silence while Alec studied her face, wearing a look of intense concentration, as if it had been too long since he'd seen her, too. He raised his hands and set them on either side of her face. He ran his thumb across her cheek, tenderly relearning her skin, and whispered, "So beautiful."

Finally, he pulled her forward and Max closed her eyes in anticipation. Alec surprised her by placing a feather-light kiss on each of her closed eyelids. He kissed one side of her mouth, then the other, still just a ghost of a touch. Only then did he kiss her lips. There was nothing light about his kiss then. He dropped his hands from her face and wrapped his arms around her, crushing her to him. He kissed her as if he'd been saving up for a rainy day, desperate, breathtaking, wonderful, and everything she'd been missing since the deprogramming sessions.

At last, Alec broke the kiss, but he didn't break away from her. He kept his arms around her, and Max gladly remained in his embrace. She set her head against his chest and felt Alec kiss the top of her head, then set his cheek against her hair.

Max wasn't sure how long they stood there, with Alec gently rocking her back and forth. The quiet, the repetitive motion, the soothing lull of his steady heartbeat all combined and for a moment she thought she might have actually fallen asleep.

As if sensing it, Alec gently pulled back and once again their eyes met. He smiled, a sweet, genuine smile that she so rarely saw.

"Hi."

Max laughed. "Hi." She grasped his hand again and pulled him toward the sofa. She sat down and Alec tumbled down to sit beside her. He put one arm around her, and with the other took her hand again, lacing their fingers back together.

"I'm so proud of you, Maxie."

Max frowned in confusion. "Why?"

"You haven't hit me yet. I think you're really growing as a person."

"The day's not over," she stated flatly.

Alec smirked knowingly. He leaned over and rested his head against hers, pulling her closer and comfortably snugging her to him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked softly.

"Didn't want to worry you," he answered at the same volume. "Wasn't anything you could do about it anyway."

"I called Tipper," she countered. "I did do something about it."

He squeezed her shoulder. "Yes, you did," he said on a sigh. "I knew there was a reason I married you."

"Still should have told me, Alec." She wasn't going to let this point go. It was too important. If she were honest, she couldn't say she wouldn't have done the same thing, but she still didn't like it.

"The headache wouldn't go away," he said. "It started right after the second deprogramming session. I thought it was the price I had to pay."

The words _to keep you safe_ were left unspoken, but she heard them loud and clear.

She bumped his head lightly with hers. "You can't keep me safe if you're a mess, ya know." She could look after herself, but that wasn't the point. It hurt her to think that Alec had been willing to bear a lifetime of pain if it meant the deprogramming had worked and he wouldn't follow orders again. It hurt her even more that he'd been willing to suffer alone and in silence.

"It got worse and I thought I was going crazy," he whispered. "I thought they had to scramble my brain to get rid of the programming."

Max's grip tightened on Alec's hand. "It'll be better now. You've been descrambled."

Alec huffed. "Never liked eggs much anyway." He yawned and she felt his head growing heavier where it rested against hers.

"Sorry I got so weird about the breeding partner thing," she whispered.

"I didn't help, did I?" he responded wearily. "Who knew we were both such drama queens?"

Max snorted. "According to Mole, everyone knows. They do hear us yelling a lot."

"We're not yelling," Alec corrected. "We're discussing things around people with overly sensitive ears."

They fell into companionable silence and Max had almost decided Alec was asleep when he asked, "Any word from the fertility gurus?"

"They're working on it," she said. "They don't seem to think it's hopeless. And Stat's still holding on."

"Good," he said, although he sounded halfway to dreamland. "That's good. Not crazy… maybe babies. Life's good again."

He sounded so content Max almost hated to say anything else. She couldn't _not_ say it though. "You know we'll be ok… Even if we don't… if we can't…"

Alec drew in a breath, pulling himself back awake. He sat up so he could look at her. His arm tightened around her and he pressed a tender kiss to her lips. "Max, if we do, if we don't, it's ok. We've got a whole city of problem children to take care of. Mole is practically a full time job." Max smiled as he'd intended, but it quickly faded under Alec's intense gaze. "I love you, Max. And you and me?"

Max smiled again, knowing just where he was headed. "Yeah, Alec. We're always all right."

* * *

><p><em>Fair warning. If you want another story, speak now or forever hold your peace. Been a pleasure. Thanks for reading!<em>


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